Oilers-Kings Series Preview.

 2P Edmonton vs Los Angeles 3P

And then the other Pacific first round matchup is between the Edmonton Oilers and the LA Kings, as those were the second and third teams in the Pacific Division this year and for the third straight year we will have an Oilers-Kings first round matchup.

History of Rivalry between teams in playoffs:

This is going to be the 10th all time match up between the Oilers and the Kings so far and the Oilers have won seven of their previous nine meetings including their last five back in 1990, 1991 and 1992 as well as the last two years in 2022 and 2023 so this is going to be an uphill battle right now for the LA Kings given the Oilers have definitely had their number in recent years.  

Season Series Record:

Edmonton 3-1-0 11-9+2

Los Angeles 1-2-1 9-11-2

Eric Bolte USA Today Sports

Each Teams X-Factors: Skinner vs Dubois

Next we look at the two teams X-Factors for this series in my opinion, one is a solid center and the other is a starting goalie. Now for the Kings, their X-Factor in my eyes has to be Dubois, now he was acquired in the offseason by LA from the Jets and they had to give the Jets a pretty big haul to grab him and they signed him to a long term deal, but in year 1 he hasn't done overly well and has sometimes been placed on the 4th line or been a healthy scratch, but they brought him in specifically to help them in a playoff series against the Oilers, and if he plays like he did at some points in his career he could be a deiffrence maker for the Kings, but if he plays like he did this year then he won't be much of a factor, while for the Oilers Skinner is their X-Factor, as last year he got burnt out and got pulled in all 4 2nd round losses to the Golden Knights and started slow this year, but really turned it around in the 2nd half for the Oilers and looked great down the stretch for the Oilers, so if he looks like he did down the stretch then I feel the Oilers will have a strong chance to win the series, but if he looks like he did last year against Vegas then the Oilers may be in trouble.

Which teams are best at 3 Position:

Perry Nelson USA today Sports 

Offense: if you look at their offenses I think the Oilers are the better offensive team, I mean they have McDavid and Draisaitl which are two of the best offensive players in the league right now so I can't really bet against their offense, but the Kings have a pretty deep offense and in my opinion maybe they are a little bit deeper than the Oilers, but the Oilers definitely have much more Firepower in my opinion.

Defense: on the defensive end it's a toss up as I think with the Oilers having guys like Bouchard and Ekholm I'll give them a slight edge on the defensive end, but LA isn't to far back of the Oilers blueline as both teams don't have an overly great defense.

Goaltending: goaltending wise I would give the slight Edge in Goal to Edmonton given the fact they have Skinner and Talbot's been up and down this year, so I'll definitely say Skinner is maybe a little bit more stable then Talbot so I am giving the edge in net to Edmonton.  

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Kings D vs Oilers Forward group

Next we go over to what I think will be the biggest on Ice Matchup of this series and I think maybe the most intriguing matchup of this series will be the Oilers high powered offense against the Kings defense, now the Oilers may not have the deepest of offense's, but they do have one of the most lethal with McDavid and Draisaitl on it and those two really drive that offense along with guys like RNH and Hyman, so it will be interesting to see how they fair against the LA Kings defense as the Kings don't have a overly great defense, but they do have some pretty good D like Doughty and Anderson amongst others so it will be interesting if the weaker LA D will be able to stifle the Oilers offense or vice versa.

Predictions

Now this is going to be an interesting series as the Kings have played the Oilers extremely hard the past two years, two years ago they went into a game seven where they lost, last year they were up 2-1 in the series before they wound up losing three straight in close and tightly contested fashion, so I think this is going to be an interesting series again as the Oilers seem to somehow always find trouble against the LA Kings and this year I finally have the LA Kings getting their revenge and ripping off the Band-Aid and I mean this is fantastic for the Kings if this does happen but have the Kings winning in seven games, I mean this is going to be a surprise for some people and this is no offense the Oilers as I think this could easily go the Oilers way too but the Kings, I have said this before the season started, I made this prediction as I did say the Oilers would play the Kings in the first round which is the only match up of the eight I predicted before the season start to actually wind up going through, so I said the Oilers cannot draw the kings in the first round because this year they went out to find ways to beat the Oilers that's literally what they did in this offseason when they got Dubois and Talbot, to help them beat the Oilers so I think this Kings made their moves to beat the Oilers and I think as much as the Oilers are a really good team and I could easily see them winning the series, I'm going to say the Kings pull off the upset and win in seven games so that's my prediction here.