Pre-Game Talk: The Only Series We’ve Ever Known: Oilers @ Kings

[Mr Positive]

Wow. Sports betting places must like losing money. I can’t see them being favoured.

Smart money is on the Oilers. We will be missing Ekholm but the team is similar to last year's squad, with an upgraded Nurse and an added Walman making up the difference. The Kings aren't better than last year.

So our natural advantage over the Kings should hold. We are just the wrong opponent for them. They'd do better against literally any other playoff team

 

[MessierII]

It's hard to make predictions as we don't know what the Oilers' line-up will be. But I think the Kings are the favorite. For starters, they never lose at home and they'll have up to 4 games at home. L.A has mainly been a very consistent club this year, which is what you want. By contrast, Edmonton has been all over the place.

The only way the Oilers can win the series is if L.A. runs into penalty trouble, and then the Oilers' PP lights them up, as happened in 2023.

As long as L.A. plays disciplined hockey, they win. Unfortunately.

None of that regular season home ice stuff means anything come playoffs.

 

[brentashton]

Interesting year.

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That’s too bad.

 

[Oilslick941611]

im not sure i can muster up the excitement for yet another first round match up against the kings, at least not until it starts. I couldn't be any less happy for this match up again. I am beyond tired and exhausted of playing the kings.

We are clearly a weaker team then we were the last few seasons as a whole, but i think the Oilers pull this out in 7.


but please Gary, can we put a moratorium on Oilers-Kings first round matchups? please?

 

[McShogun99]

As long as McDrai put up 10+ points each during the series then we’ll be fine.

 

[Hockeylife2018]

As long as McDrai put up 10+ points each during the series then we’ll be fine.

This will be the key to this playoff run

1) were worse on paper
2) were unhealthy and limping into the playoffs

The only chance the Oilers have is we need to win series in as few games played as possible, and we need mcdavid/drai to raise their historic playoff levels to something unheard of

Not impossible, but this will be the first season I'm not putting money on any post season games

 

[McFlash97]

Kings win, Bowman hopefully is fired the next day

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The quit is strong it seems

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

The quit is strong it seems

Just pathetic.

 

[soothsayer]

I defy anyone to convincingly argue that the difference between the Oilers winning and losing this series against LA is Mattias Ekholm. Without Ekholm, the Oilers aren't winning the cup; but they sure as hell are still going to stomp the Kings. A fully healthy Oilers roster wins in 4 or 5. This series maybe makes it to 6, but I would bet the Oilers win in 4 before I would bet they lose.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Smart money is on the Oilers. We will be missing Ekholm but the team is similar to last year's squad, with an upgraded Nurse and an added Walman making up the difference. The Kings aren't better than last year.

That is an interesting point.

Is a massive positive (Ekholm-Bouchard) and a massive liability (Nurse-Ceci) better than two smaller positives (Walman-Bouchard and Nurse-Stecher/Kulak).

Sadly I think a big difference is the 3rd pairing, Kulak-Vinny were outstanding vs. LA, while Emberson isn't giving me with the same level of confidence. Truth be told, I suspect we'll see Brown in this series to counter LA's size.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Interesting year.

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If it means anything in 6 team NHL Bruins and Rangers were often the two clubs out of playoffs as 4/6 clubs made it. they were the two weakest teams perennnially. Pens have hd some kind of luck getting Mario, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin.

It features though how weird the EC is. One year some clubs are redhot then they're not. Seems like in the WC teh same clubs are usually good and making playoffs.

 

[CupofOil]

I defy anyone to convincingly argue that the difference between the Oilers winning and losing this series against LA is Mattias Ekholm. Without Ekholm, the Oilers aren't winning the cup; but they sure as hell are still going to stomp the Kings. A fully healthy Oilers roster wins in 4 or 5. This series maybe makes it to 6, but I would bet the Oilers win in 4 before I would bet they lose.

This is some big disrespect to the Kings. The Oilers won the last 3 playoff series but the series were toss ups in which the games were very even and those were worse Kings teams and better Oilers teams. There was no "stomping" in these series.
You have McDavid and Draisaitl so you always have a chance but the odds are stacked against the Oilers even in this series without their lynchpin on defense and goaltending that's even worse this season.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I don't make playoff predictions anymore. Despite the Oilers beating Kings 3 seasons in a row first round is often anything happens realm. Seems like the Oilers won some series basically on special teams. Team though has been playing pretty well just on 5-6 D and so we'll see. McDrai will as usual elevate. As much as been said about the Oilers not being as good this season Drai has never been better. For my money he's been best in league.

Having a relatively rested McD and Drai is also a scary concept for opponents.

 

[soothsayer]

This is some big disrespect to the Kings. The Oilers won the last 3 playoff series but the series were toss ups in which the games were very even and those were worse Kings teams and better Oilers teams. There was no "stomping" in these series.
You have McDavid and Draisaitl so you always have a chance but the odds are stacked against the Oilers even in this series without their lynchpin on defense and goaltending that's even worse this season.

This Kings team is virtually the same as last year, with slightly better goaltending (Talbot with 913 last year and Kuemper with 921 this year). The Oilers on paper are better this year. And they beat the Kings in 5 games last year. That's a stomping in my books. They also have beaten them in 3 straight seasons. Again, also a stomping. The Kings of 2022 was their best team.

 

[MessierII]

This is some big disrespect to the Kings. The Oilers won the last 3 playoff series but the series were toss ups in which the games were very even and those were worse Kings teams and better Oilers teams. There was no "stomping" in these series.
You have McDavid and Draisaitl so you always have a chance but the odds are stacked against the Oilers even in this series without their lynchpin on defense and goaltending that's even worse this season.

Gonna disagree last year was not close. The other two were close but mostly because of kings last min heroics. There’s no point where they came close to outplaying us.

 

[Drivesaitl]

This Kings team is virtually the same as last year, with slightly better goaltending (Talbot with 913 last year and Kuemper with 921 this year). The Oilers on paper are better this year. And they beat the Kings in 5 games last year. That's a stomping in my books. They also have beaten them in 3 straight seasons. Again, also a stomping. The Kings of 2022 was their best team.

Disagree here. Kings didn't even have Doughty in 22 playoffs. They've gone back to get a bit more meat in their lineup. They now have Clarke who is gonna be a star. Byfield a bit better now. Fiala somehow is on a heater. Kuzmenko was decent addition on a short timeline. Last year for sure Kings weren't feeling it. One reason for that is they were stone cold for 2-3mths leading up to playoffs. Basically dead in water like the Wild are this season. Conversely Kings performance has been more stable this season and hitting playoffs playing reasonably well.

The stomping in anycase is special teams. If theres lots of PP's Oilers have advantage. EV the clubs are a toss up.

 

[Shanahanigans]

Someone pointed out that the Penguins won in 2017 without Letang the entire playoff run. They just did it by committee. There’s a reason the games are played. I have major hang ups about the decision making of this management group and coaching staff, but I’m not ready to throw the towel on the season just yet.

I’m also looking forward to everyone writing us off like they did vs Calgary in 2022, vs Vancouver and Dallas last year, and even in the finals when we were down 3-0. Say what you want about this roster, but these guys have too much pride to just lay down. Playoffs are a new season.

 

[soothsayer]

Disagree here. Kings didn't even have Doughty in 22 playoffs. They've gone back to get a bit more meat in their lineup. They now have Clarke who is gonna be a star. Byfield a bit better now. Fiala somehow is on a heater. Kuzmenko was decent addition on a short timeline. Last year for sure Kings weren't feeling it. One reason for that is they were stone cold for 2-3mths leading up to playoffs. Basically dead in water like the Wild are this season. Conversely Kings performance has been more stable this season and hitting playoffs playing reasonably well.

The stomping in anycase is special teams. If theres lots of PP's Oilers have advantage. EV the clubs are a toss up.

Same thing every year. "Kings are better this year." "The Kings are going to be a tough out." "They're built to stop Edmonton." Etc, etc.

This year it's Kuzmenko. Last year it was Kaliev and Dubois. Before that it was Vilardi.

Byfield is the same guy he was last year. He's not going to move the needle. Kopitar is not the same player he was. Danault is clearly not the same player he was even last year.

Their hopes are on Kuemper. And I strongly believe we're going to see the Oilers explode offensively in game 1 in a way we haven't seen yet this year. Like I said, they aren't winning the cup without Ekholm. But LA is not the team to worry about.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Same thing every year. "Kings are better this year." "The Kings are going to be a tough out." "They're built to stop Edmonton." Etc, etc.

This year it's Kuzmenko. Last year it was Kaliev and Dubois. Before that it was Vilardi.

Byfield is the same guy he was last year. He's not going to move the needle. Kopitar is not the same player he was. Danault is clearly not the same player he was even last year.

Their hopes are on Kuemper. And I strongly believe we're going to see the Oilers explode offensively in game 1 in a way we haven't seen before. Like I said, they aren't winning the cup without Ekholm. But LA is not the team to worry about.

I didn't say any of that in my post and its just a reply. For sure Danault has been nothing. Seems to have lost his jump, Kopitar too.

Thing is we never know in playoffs. Its why they play the series. What I focused on is Kings had a real poor back half last season. they were front runners first half of season and then fell apart, which only continued in playoffs. This season they're playing decently headed into playoffs. Take fwiw.

 

[CupofOil]

Gonna disagree last year was not close. The other two were close but mostly because of kings last min heroics. There’s no point where they came close to outplaying us.

Games 1 and 3 the Oilers outplayed them significantly. Games 2 and 5 were tight, Game 4 the Kings badly outplayed the Oilers but Skinner, yes Skinner, stole the game. Games against the Kings are almost always slugfests. It was a close 5 game series, the Kings could have easily won Game 4 and the series would have been completely different had they won that game.
There has not been anything "not close" about the series between these two teams.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

We can still win the series but any potential deep run is going to be extremely uphill unless the Wild/Blues can pull off some shenanigans.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Smart money is on the Oilers. We will be missing Ekholm but the team is similar to last year's squad, with an upgraded Nurse and an added Walman making up the difference. The Kings aren't better than last year.

So our natural advantage over the Kings should hold. We are just the wrong opponent for them. They'd do better against literally any other playoff team

The Kings are better than last season. Goaltending and defence is best or near league best with a deep offence and the best home record in the league. They had 99 points last year. They are at 101 and counting this year. Kings with home ice coupled with Edmonton’s injuries should make them favored I would think.

But I’m not dumb enough to bet on hockey where Gary wants games artificially managed for the sake of parity. And if they throw the rule book out the window as is the tendency come playoff time it gives the Kings a massive advantage.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Games 1 and 3 the Oilers outplayed them significantly. Games 2 and 5 were tight, Game 4 the Kings badly outplayed the Oilers but Skinner, yes Skinner, stole the game. Games against the Kings are almost always slugfests. It was a close 5 game series, the Kings could have easily won Game 4 and the series would have been completely different had they won that game.
There has not been anything "not close" about the series between these two teams.

a 4-1 series isnt close.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The Kings are better than last season. Goaltending and defence is best or near league best with a deep offence and the best home record in the league. They had 99 points last year. They are at 101 and counting this year. Kings with home ice coupled with Edmonton’s injuries should make them favored I would think.

But I’m not dumb enough to bet on hockey where Gary wants games artificially managed for the sake of parity. And if they throw the rule book out the window as is the tendency come playoff time it gives the Kings a massive advantage.

They also boast the best home record in the league. That should count for something.