PREVIEW: Oilers at Kings (Game 1)

The Edmonton Oilers begin their first-round series with Game 1 against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

Game previews during the 2025 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

PREVIEW: Oilers at Kings (Game 1)

LOS ANGELES, CA – The wait is finally over.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are officially back.

“We've waited all year for this, waited all year to get back to this moment, so we're looking forward to it,” Connor McDavid said. “Everybody's excited, so it should be a fun one.”

Hope springs eternal for the Edmonton Oilers once again as they venture into another post-season campaign that begins on Monday night with Game 1 against an all-too familiar opponent in the Los Angeles Kings, who they’ll face in the First Round for the fourth straight year.

“It's a hopeful time for everybody. Everybody has high hopes for a deep run,” McDavid said.

“It takes a lot of work just to get to this point. All 16 teams believe that they have a chance. All of them believe that they're a good team and they have all the pieces to do it, and we would be no different. We believe that, too. They believe that.

“Let's just play. Let's see what happens.”

The Oilers took all of the previous three meetings between the Oilers & Kings in the playoffs by winning in seven (2022), six (2023) and five games (2024), but they aren’t looking past what will be another tough opening round against their Pacific Division rivals who’ve always proven to be a tough out.

The Kings were victorious in three of the four meetings between the two clubs during the regular season to help them secure home-ice advantage over the Oilers in the First Round, having gone 31-6-4 at Crypto.com Arena this campaign for the NHL’s best home record.

However, the Oilers are 6-2-0 in their last eight playoff games at Crypto.com Arena over the past three years, including a heroic 4-3 victory in Game 7 back in 2022 where they trailed 3-2 in the series and had to fight off elimination twice to advance.

Los Angeles has taken Game 1 in two of the past three playoff meetings.

The Oilers are prepared to lean on their experience from going all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season and falling just short of winning it all, going as deep as they can without coming away with Edmonton’s sixth championship in franchise history.

Though it might give them a slight boost knowing what it takes to get there, the Blue & Orange aren’t diverting from their mindset that this is a different year and that's still going to take a strong effort to get past a much-improved Kings team for a fourth straight playoffs.

“It's nice to have the experience of having gone all the way and understanding the highs and lows of a playoff run,” Leon Draisaitl said. “But all of that is pushed aside if you don't bring your best game on most nights, so that's our goal starting tomorrow: bring our A-game, force our game onto them, and hopefully, that'll be enough.”

Los Angeles still presents the same challenges Edmonton is used to facing with their defence-first approach and top six threats in Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar. But names like former Oilers winger Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield, who’s continued to develop his game this season as a former 2020 second-overall pick, have given them another edge to their physical, fast and tough-to-beat approach.

“They're similar in a lot of ways,” McDavid said. “Solid defensively. They have depth scoring and they roll four lines… They're a solid, deep defensive team like they have been in years past. It's their identity. They stick to it and it works for them. They make it challenging on you.”

Between the pipes, Darcy Kuemper has solidified their goaltending by going 31-11-7 with a .922 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average over 50 starts in the regular season after being acquired from Washington in the offseason.

Kuemper was part of the Colorado Avalanche team that defeated the Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Final before winning the Stanley Cup.

“They play a really clean, simple, detailed game that goalie seemed to really thrive in,” McDavid added. “Every goalie that goes in there seems to play really well. Kuemper's a good goalie and had a great year. He's won a Cup before. He's a different goalie, but the team identity is still the same.”

Both McDavid and Draisaitl used the word “resilient” to describe their team following an up and down regular season that provided a lot of adversity and growth moments to the group with guys having to take on bigger roles because of injuries.

Now, slowly but surely, they’re getting healthier as they prepare to begin anew in the playoffs, with their big guns like McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman getting the chance to take some extra rest before what they hope will be another long post-season run.

“Resilient team,” McDavid said. “I knew that about our team, but that just kind of cements it home, and it's everybody. It's not just a handful of guys. We had lots of different guys come in and out of the lineup, guys stepping up, guys being asked to do different things that they're not normally asked to, and everybody responded.”

“We're a resilient group,” Draisaitl added. “We're in every game, no matter who's in the lineup or who's out. We're capable of winning hockey games with what we have, and we're capable of beating really good hockey teams without Connor, without Ekky or without me.”

Mattias Ekholm and Troy Stecher will not be ready for Game 1 of the series along with winger Evander Kane, Coach Knoblauch said after Sunday's practice, but added that Trent Frederic is a possibility for the Oilers with his status still to be determined following the pre-game skate in the morning.

Despite Brett Kulak being in Canmore for the birth of his family's second child, the defenceman is still expected to be in the lineup on Monday night.