SAN JOSE -- The venue will be different for the Edmonton Oilers when they play in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the objective remains the same.
Edmonton, which is looking to make a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final, will begin what it hopes is another long postseason run when it visits the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Monday (10 p.m. ET; FDSNW, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN).
It’s the fourth consecutive season the Oilers and Kings will meet in the first round, although the first time Edmonton will begin the best-of-7 series on the road. The Oilers eliminated the Kings in each of the previous three meetings, including in seven games in 2022, in six games in 2023, and in five games last season.
Despite not having home-ice advantage this time around, not much will change for Edmonton in its approach to the series.
Except for perhaps coach Kris Knoblauch.
“I have some idea of what’s going on for myself,” Knoblauch said on Friday. “Being my first year (last season), you don’t know about the intensity and what the series are going to be like and the adjustments you have to make. So for me a lot has changed, but I look at our guys and the confidence and how they feel, the excitement of hitting the playoffs. For me, I see the players in the same state of mind that they were last year.”
The Oilers have been preparing for the series in Northern California this week, having decided to pack heavy prior to a 3-0 win in their regular-season finale at the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
The Oilers will utilize the Sharks' practice facility before departing for Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.
“We weren’t sure when our first game was going to be,” Knoblauch said. “We knew we were going to stay after the San Jose game because of the flights and the timing. That’s a regular thing whether it’s in the regular season or heading into the playoffs, we’d stay over that night.
“So, we didn’t know if we were going to start Sunday or Monday, so with two days of travel of going there (Edmonton) and coming back, we felt it was much easier on everyone to just stay out here.”
San Jose Mineta International Airport has a noise-based curfew between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., which prevented the Oilers from flying home after their game Wednesday night.
However, staying in California also helps keep the distractions to a minimum.
“It’s a good opportunity for our group to regroup and get some rest, prepare ourselves and also be together, spend some quality time together, especially with what’s to come,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “The playoffs are always fun, you almost feel like you’re back to junior when you’re on the road with the amount of time you spend together. It’ll be fun.”
Edmonton has not started the playoffs on the road since 2006, when it finished eighth in the Western Conference and upset the Detroit Red Wings, who won the Presidents' Trophy, in six games in the conference quarterfinals. The Oilers would go on to advance to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games.
Last season, the Oilers lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Cup Final.
If Edmonton is going to win its first Stanley Cup championship since 1990, it is going to have to stay healthy, something it struggled to do down the stretch.
Forwards Leon Draisaitl (lower body), Zach Hyman (undisclosed) and Trent Frederic (ankle), and defensemen Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Jake Walman (undisclosed) and Troy Stecher (undisclosed) each did not play in the Oilers' final two regular-season games, which included a 5-0 loss to the Kings on Monday.
Draisaitl missed four games with an undisclosed injury from March 20-27, returned for three games and was injured again in a 3-2 win at San Jose on April 3. He then missed the final seven games of the regular season. Connor McDavid also missed eight games with a lower-body injury late in the season before returning to play in four of their final five regular-season games (the one he missed was for precautionary reasons).
Every one of those players was on the ice for practice on Friday except Ekholm, who will not be available for the first round, and Stecher.
Draisaitl, Hyman and Walman are expected to be available for Game 1. Draisaitl and McDavid have not played in the same game since a 7-1 win against the Utah Hockey Club on March 18.
Forward Evander Kane, who missed the entire regular season, also practiced and could be available for the playoffs. He had surgery to repair two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias and two torn lower abdominal muscles in September. He then had knee surgery on Jan. 9.
“The thing about today’s practice compared to the last skate we had before San Jose the last game, which didn’t mean anything (in standings), is that everyone is a little more excited,” Knoblauch said. “We had a longer meeting today on special teams, and for a meeting to go that long in mid-January, you’re going to lose guys’ attentions, but today they knew what was at stake and they were excited. Everyone is just ready for the playoffs to start.”
Prior to their last game of the season, McDavid objected to the narrative that the Oilers were the “walking wounded” heading into the playoffs, stating instead that most players would be ready to roll in Game 1.
It was a sentiment Hyman echoed on Friday.
“We didn’t look too wounded on the ice today,” said Hyman, who missed the last three games of the regular season. “We’re good. We’re obviously missing a big piece on the back end [Ekholm], but we just have to pull through and everybody just has to step up.”
