It seems as though there are three things we’re guaranteed of in life: death, taxes and the Los Angeles Kings versus the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs… Set to face off in the first round against each other for the fourth consecutive season, the Kings and Oilers will meet for an NHL-high 35th time since the beginning of the 2021-22 season when they drop the puck for Game 1 at Crypto.com at 7:00 PM on Monday night.
Heading into the 2024-25 playoffs with seemingly their best chance of the four to defeat last year’s Stanley Cup finalists in the best-of-seven series, the Kings are healthy and have been the NHL’s best team since the March 7th trade deadline at 17-5-0. Prepping you on what to watch for, here are four storylines to track come puck drop!
Schedule
Game 1: In Los Angeles, 4/21 at Crypto.com Arena, beginning at 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Game 2: In Los Angeles, 4/23 at Crypto.com Arena, beginning at 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Game 3: At Edmonton, 4/25 at Rogers Place, beginning at 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Game 4: At Edmonton, 4/27 at Rogers Place, beginning at 6:30 p.m. (PT)
*Game 5: In Los Angeles, 4/29 at Crypto.com Arena, start time TBD (if necessary)
*Game 6: at Edmonton, 5/01 at Rogers Place, start time TBD (if necessary)
*Game 7: In Los Angeles, 5/03 at Crypto.com Arena, start time TBD (if necessary)
Broadcast Details
Game 1: 4/21 – ESPN2, FanDuel Sports Network West, ESPN LA 710, SNET, TVAS 2
Game 2: 4/23 – TBS, Max, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, ESPN LA 710, SNET, CBC, TVAS
Game 3: 4/25 – TNT, truTV, Max, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, ESPN LA App, SNET, CBC, TVAS 2
Game 4: 4/27 – TBS, truTV, Max, FanDuel Sports Network West, ESPN LA 710, SNET, CBC, TVAS
*Game 5: 4/29 – TBD
*Game 6: 5/01 – TBD
*Game 7: 5/03 – TBD
Four Key Storylines
Home-Ice Advantage
While many of the main characters and team characteristics have stayed the same across the now four-year postseason battle, one difference compared to the three previous series is home-ice advantage. Slotted back into the #2 versus #3 spots in the Pacific Division side of the back for a fourth straight year, this is the first year that the Kings will be the higher #2 seed and will begin the playoffs on home ice. Every team values home-ice advantage differently but the Kings at Crypto.com Arena this season have been outstanding. Heading into the postseason having had an NHL-best 31-6-4 record at home this season, the Kings will look to continue their winning ways. Holding their opponents to just 1.98 goals per game (GA/GP) on home ice, the Kings allowed the second-fewest number of goals this season at 203 across the 82 regular season games. Going up against the potent Edmonton offense, the Oilers were averaging the NHL’s seventh-best offense at 3.25 GF/GP before the injuries of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in late March. Furthermore, the Oilers ranked even higher on the road in scoring at sixth with 3.21 GF/GP. The Kings and Oilers met just once at Crypto.com Arena when both teams were healthy back in December 28th, 2024 with the Kings coming from behind to win 4-3 in overtime.
Special Teams
Another telling statistic and storyline that has played an extremely significant role in the outcome of the prior three series’ is special teams play. While it’s been the Kings outscoring the Oilers in 5-on-5 play in two of the previous three years, it has been pure domination in favor of the Oilers on the power play and the penalty kill. Going back across the last three matchups, the Oilers have held the Kings to just 10-for-53 (18.8%) on the man advantage, while on the contrast the Oilers have gone 24-for-54 (44.4%) on their own power play. Having made strategic adjustments on the penalty kill from last season to this season, the Kings have been more aggressive and their pressuring man-down units have been effective this season, ranking eighth in the NHL at 81.8% during the regular season. Of note, the Kings held the Oilers to just one power-play goal this season on 11 attempts, while burying two goals on the man advantage themselves, though the McDavid/Draisaitl duo played in just two of the four games. As promising as the regular season numbers have been this season, it was the same trend going into last year’s playoffs and the Kings only killed 11-of-20 Oilers power plays, hence one of the reasons for this past offseason’s strategic changes when a man down. Will the changes pay off across the best-of-seven series? That’s why they play games. We’ll find out over the next two weeks.
Goaltending
Darcy Kuemper’s first season in his return to the Kings could not have gone any better. Acquired in a one-for-one deal for Pierre-Luc Dubois this past offseason, Kuemper joined the Kings in his third year of a five-year $26.25M ($5.25M AAV) deal and has been with that and more with the consistency and stability he’s brought to the blue paint. Kuemper, 34, who was seven years removed from his first stint with the Kings (2017-18) and three years removed from hoisting the Stanley Cup as the starting goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche in 2021-22 put together the best statistical season of his career in 2024-25. Kuemper enters the postseason as a worthy nominee for the Vezina Trophy after posting the NHL’s second best goals against average (2.02 GAA), the third ranked save percentage (.922 SV%), the fourth most shutouts (5 SO) and ranking in the 99th percentile among qualified goalies in high danger save percentage (.863) Having also recently posted 15 consecutive games allowing two goals or less from March 5th-April 12th Kuemper heads into the Stanley Cup Playoffs playing his best hockey of the season. Kuemper has been outstanding all season, however, and the Kings will need that to continue against the Oilers given the dynamic duo he’ll be fielding pucks from over what could be the next seven games.
On the other end of the ice, it hasn’t been the strongest statistical season for Oilers starting goaltender Stuart Skinner, however the Edmonton native has come up big for the Oilers during the last two postseasons and they’ll need him to step up again if they want to make it back to the Stanley Cup finals. Skinner has posted a record of 26-18-4, though his save percentage (.896), goals against average (2.81) and high danger save percentage (.791) all rank below the 50th percentile among qualified NHL goalies this season. In his favor, however, is his history in this matchup. Skinner and the Oilers will likely be focusing on two different trends in preparation of Game 1 – Skinner’s last game against the Kings and his promising form to close out the regular season. Skinner only appeared in two of the four games against the Kings this season, most recently back on January 13th, as he collected one of his three shutouts on the season in a 30-save effort. Now, after returning from injury, Skinner seems to be back in proper form. The 26-year-old netminder returned to the Oilers lineup for two of the final three games of the regular season, posted another shutout, while also stopping 35 of 36 shots between the pair of games. While one came against an already clinched Winnipeg Jets team sitting multiple players and the other against San Jose Sharks, stopping the puck and earning a shutout under any circumstance should give the Oilers confidence in their goalie.
Depth
While the Kings will of course have their hands full with Draisaitl (52-54=106), who just put together his fourth consecutive 100-point season and his sixth triple digit output of his career and McDavid (26-74=100), who also notched a 100-point season for the eighth time in his 10-year career, the Kings will lean into their depth as an area of strength. Beginning on the defensive side of the puck, with the decision to move Quinton Byfield back to center this past offseason, the Kings now have three centers they can throw at what are debatably the top two centers in the NHL. Byfield has proven himself this season to be a trustworthy defender over the 82-game season that can provide at least allow for more flexibility for head coach Jim Hiller when decisions have to be made, having played the role of matchup center at times this season.
Offensively, the Kings depth scorers have had a very productive year. Beyond the team’s top three scorers this season of Adrian Kempe (35-38=73), Anze Kopitar (21-46=67) and Kevin Fiala (35-25=60), the Kings had seven players with at least 18 goals and eight players with at least 40 points. In comparison, the Oilers had five skaters with 18+ goals and just five skaters with 40+ points. Without a doubt, McDavid and Draisaitl make up for some of the Oilers lack of depth scoring, but the Kings depth provides solid opportunity and will have to continue to produce when they find themselves on the ice against the Oilers depth.
