Kuemper's career year gives Kings confidence in latest playoff matchup against Oilers

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings like their chances with Darcy Kuemper in goal.

The 34-year-old is the fourth starting goalie for Los Angeles in four seasons against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round, and he may give them the best opportunity to get over the hump.

Kuemper is entering Game 1 of the best-of-7 series at Crypto.Com Arena on Monday (10 p.m. ET; FDSNW, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN) off one his best NHL seasons.

“It’s been super fun, I really enjoyed this group, we have a lot of fun in the locker room and off the ice, and we play so hard for each other on the ice,” Kuemper said Saturday. “It’s special to be part of a group like that and we’ve been looking forward to the playoffs for a long time now and are excited to get going.”

Kuemper is following the path of Jonathan Quick (2022), Joonas Korpisalo (2023), and Cam Talbot (2024), who started for Los Angeles in its previous three first-round meetings with Edmonton.

Quick came the closest to backstopping the Kings to a series win, losing in seven games. Los Angeles lost in six games with Korpisalo and five with Talbot, who eventually was replaced by David Rittich.

This season, Los Angeles finished four points ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific Division and has home-ice advantage for the first time in this run of four consecutive first-round meetings. The Kings are as confident as they’ve ever been going up against the Oilers, particularly because of Kuemper, who went 31-11-7 in 50 starts with a career-best 2.02 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

“I think what gives us a chance to win is our depth and our defend-first mindset,” Kuemper said. “We’re able to have so much success in the regular season and were always in games, there weren’t many games where we didn’t give ourselves a chance. I think it’s quite well known that things tighten up when playoffs get going and we’re very comfortable playing those types of games and we’re excited for it.”

Kuemper knows about winning, which is a reason Los Angeles acquired him in a trade for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Washington Capitals on June 19, 2024. Kuemper won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 and is looking to help the Kings go on a long run this postseason. They haven't made it past the first round since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.

“That really was the funnest year I’ve ever had and the most exciting, and I’m itching to get back there,” Kuemper said. “It’ll be fun to be back out in that atmosphere. The crowd is so intense, the players are so intense and the games mean so much, it’s the most fun type of hockey to play.”

Kuemper lost his starting job to Charlie Lindgren with Washington last season and became an option for Los Angeles, which moved on from Talbot. It is Kuemper’s second stint with the Kings, having signed with them in a backup role to Quick in 2017-18.

“It was a fun year to be out there playing well and being on a team that’s winning a lot of games,” Kuemper said. “It was nice to have a fun year like that after a tough one last year. It was a great regular season and now we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”

Los Angeles had been looking for a steady goalie since trading Quick on March 1, 2023. Quick was in his 15th full season with the Kings and had won the Stanley Cup twice (2012, 2014). Los Angeles did not have a successful succession plan for its star goalie, which eventually provided an opportunity for Kuemper.

“He’s been really good,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “He had a little bit of a slow start and dealt with a couple of injuries where he was out. But since he’s been back and been in a rhythm, he’s been really good. In fact, we call him our backbone around L.A. He’s really been our backbone for our team this year.”

Kuemper is in the third season of a five-year, $26.25 million contract ($5.25 million average annual value) he signed with Washington on July 13, 2022. He settled in well with the Kings and embraced a starting role again.

“I looked at it strictly from Darcy’s perspective, I think the one thing that was important was that Darcy had already played in LA,” Hiller said. “He had success and was very familiar with some of the players that were still on the team, I think it made the transition easier for him.”

Kuemper gives the Kings reason to believe they can defeat the high-octane Oilers, who feature star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their prime. Kuemper helped the Avalanche sweep the Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Final before defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.

“I guess if I compare it to last year, Darcy has been unbelievable for us,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “I think there’s a bit of an improvement right there and throughout the lineup. A lot of the credit to the young guys to bring that stability to the lineup, and we’re going to need everybody here and make sure we’re ready for Game 1.”

-- NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report