Kings-Oilers Series Preview.

 2P Los Angeles vs Edmonton 3P

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog, so today we are looking at the 2nd Series that was locked in the Western Conference playoff picture, as we're going to be looking at the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers, as the Kings who have been one of the best home teams all season long and have been surprisingly dominant are once again  taking on the 3rd team in the Pacific in Edmonton who had a solid middle of the year but due to injuries trailed off at the end of the Year and weren’t able to once again get 2nd in the Pacific but this like the last 4 years is gonna be a bloodbath as it is the 4th consecutive 1RD meeting between these two. 

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now we have done the history of these two teams playing in the playoffs over the past few years as this is the 4th consecutive 1RD matchup between these two teams, now these two have had 11 playoff series against each other and the first matchup back in 1982 actually went in the favour of the Kings, then in 85 and 87 the Oilers would beat the Kings before LA took down the Oilers in the 1989 postseason, but since then it has been all Oilers as in their last 6 playoff series between each other back in 90, 91, 92, 22, 23 and 24 the Oilers won each and every series including in 7 games in 22, 6 games in 23 and 5 games last year, so Edmonton has had the Kings number recently but it’s the first time in these 4 consecutive meeting LA has had home ice so maybe this is the year they finally win.

Season Series Record: 

Los Angeles 3-1-0 12-4+8

Edmonton 1-1-2 4-12-8

Kirby Lee Imagn Images

Each teams X-Factors: Kuzmenko vs Skinner

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are new acquisition Andrei Kuzmenko in the Kings top 6 and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner. Now since arriving in LA from Philly at the trade deadline, Kuzmenko has been a force to be reckoned with and is playing the same type of way he did in his stellar first year in Vancouver right now, so Kuzmenko was the biggest deadline add for the Kings this year and if he plays like he did at the end of the regular season then I like the Kings chance of maybe taking this series, meanwhile once again I have to say the Oilers net minder in Stuart Skinner is the Oilers X-Factor, now he has been in and out of the lineup this year due to injuries and been inconsistent at times but the Oilers trusted him enough to not go out and add goalie help, so if he plays like he did in the 1RD last year I like the Oilers chances but if he is inconsistent again then this might be a short series for the Oilers.

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Perry Nelson Imagn Images

Offense: now when it comes to who has the advantage offensively between these two teams it’s really hard to pick a team who has a better offense then one that has two of the best players in the world on it in McDavid and Draisaitl on it, so once again I will say the Oilers have the slight advantage up front but I am going to say that with the injuries in Edmonton the Kings probably do have the better depth at this point.

Defence: now on the blueline I think completely healthy these two teams stack up quite well against each other, but with the recent reports that Ekholm may be gone for the year with a injury and almost certainly won’t play in round 1 I would say the Kings have the edge defensively because of the play of guys like Spence and Anderson amongst others I feel the Kings top to bottom have the better defence.

Goaltending: now on the goaltending side it is different then last year as last year I said the Oilers have the edge in net with Skinner over Talbot and his inconsistency, but now that the Kings have Kuemper and with the way he has been playing this year for LA finding his form from Colorado a few years ago, and with Skinner being in and out due to injuries I will say that I am giving the edge in Net to LA as I feel they finally have the edge in the crease.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Kuemper vs McDavid and Draisaitl 

Now when it comes to the biggest matchup in this series for this year it has to be Kuemper facing off against the Oilers top players, now in the past few years when these two teams played each other, the Kings goalies never performed up to the task of shutting down the potent offensive game of the Oilers and Talbot and Quick did alright but not good enough, so this year I think the biggest matchup will be Kuemper against the two lethal forwards in Edmonton because I feel if Kuemper can give the Kings the saves they need at key times that they hadn’t gotten the past few years then I like the chances, but if McDavid and Draisaitl make Kuemper look silly then it might be a short series, so whoever wins this matchup I feel will get their team the series win.

Predictions:

So in this series it is really hard to pick against the Oilers as they have won in each of the last 3 meetings in the last few years and winning in a shorter amount of games in each of the last 3 years, but there are a few differences this year to years past as the Kings have gotten home ice advantage this year which they didn’t the past few years and this Kings team has also been a powerhouse on home ice, they are much more stable in Net with Kuemper then in years past with Talbot and Quick, and the Oilers are a pretty banged up team entering the playoffs and have a lot of players that will be rather rusty come the start of the playoffs, so with all this in mind I am going against the grain here and selecting the Kings to win the series in 7, I feel this is going to be a really intriguing series that will go the distance, but due to Kings having home ice and Edmonton’s injuries, I think LA wins the series.