A fourth straight playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers is something that is tough for the Los Angeles Kings and their fans to accept. There was plenty of reason for optimism going into the series but also after they got up 2-0 to begin the series.
However, the Kings would falter down the stretch and the Oilers capitalized to win four straight to advance to the next round. As with any setback, the lessons learned can be valuable and help teams improve if they can look at what happened objectively.
With that said, these are some of the lessons the Los Angeles Kings should take away from this series and how it can be applied to the offseason and into next season.
Drew Doughty should not lead the team in minutes
It isn't surprising that Jim Hiller leaned on some of his veterans for this series as players like Drew Doughty has been a key part of the roster for a long period of time. However, as the series went along, it was clear that this was not the same Doughty and he was struggling when on the ice.
During the regular season after his return from the ankle injury, he was averaging just over 24 minutes of ice time per game. There was talk leading up to the playoffs that he was still dealing with the after effects of the injury and was one of the reasons he was rested down the stretch.
That rest probably helped but wasn't enough as the Kings would have him averaging 27:12 minutes of ice time per game, which was almost two minutes more than the next player on the roster in Mikey Anderson at 25:25.
It was only the defense that Hiller leaned on the older veterans but this was the clearest example and leads into the next lesson.