Los Angeles, third in the Pacific Division, is in the postseason for the first time since 2017-18. The Kings will play the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round. The playoffs begin May 2.
Edmonton has home ice for the best-of-7 series. The Kings (43-27-10) trail the second-place Oilers (47-27-6) by four points with two games remaining, at the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TVAS, ROOT-NW+, BSW, ESPN+, NHL LIVE) and at the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
The Oilers, who clinched the second seed in the division with a 5-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, have two games remaining, at home against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and the Canucks on Friday.
If the teams finish tied, Edmonton would win the tiebreaker with more regulation wins (38-34).
"You basically needed 100 points to get in the playoffs this year," Kings coach Todd McLellan said Wednesday. "That's how strong these teams are. Edmonton and L.A. are two of those teams.
"The same words are going to be coming out of (Oilers coach) Jay Woodcroft, for we got our work cut out for us. That's what we asked for when we put the equipment on at the beginning of the year, we asked to play meaningful games down the stretch. And if it worked out for us, which it did, we wanted to continue on and we're going to gain a lot of experience regardless of how long we play or who we play."
The teams have played twice in the past month. Edmonton won 3-2 at Los Angeles on April 7 and 4-3 in a shootout at home on March 30. The Oilers won the season series 3-1-0; the Kings were 1-2-1.
Edmonton is the better home team this season, with a 26-12-1 record; Los Angeles is 21-16-4. The Kings are the better road team, with a 22-11-6 record to the Oilers' 21-15-5.
Center Connor McDavid, the NHL scoring leader with 122 points (44 goals, 78 assists), led Edmonton with six points (three goals, three assists) in four games against Los Angeles this season. Forwards Evander Kane and Zach Hyman, and defenseman Evan Bouchard tied for second with three points each (one goal, two assists each). Kane played three games against the Kings; Hyman and Bouchard each played four.
Mike Smith won his two starts against Los Angeles this season (2.00 goals-against average, .938 save percentage), and Mikko Koskinen was 1-1-0 (3.84 GAA, .901 save percentage).
Forward Trevor Moore and defenseman Drew Doughty led the Kings with four points each against the Oilers this season. Moore had two goals and two assists in four games. Doughty, who is out for the season after wrist surgery April 11, had one goal and three assists in two games.
Jonathan Quick was 1-1-1 against Edmonton this season (2.29 GAA, .918 save percentage), and Cal Petersen was 0-1-0 (3.08 GAA, .889 save percentage).
Los Angeles center Phillip Danault said being a lower seed should not be a deterrent for a potential playoff run.
"If you want it you can get it," Danault said. "So that's as simple as that. We showed that we could win a lot of games by playing the right way, that's for sure. I know we're young but I think [we] definitely can do damage and no matter how high you get into the playoffs you can always make something happen. The hardest part is to make the playoffs."
This will be the eighth time the Oilers and Kings have met in the playoffs. Edmonton has won five of the seven series. The last time the teams played in the postseason was a six-game Oilers victory in the 1992 first round, the third straight season Edmonton defeated Los Angeles in the playoffs.
The Oilers qualified for the postseason for the third straight season but have won one series (in six games against the Sharks in the 2017 first round) since losing the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
They were swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the Stanley Cup First Round last season.
The Kings last won a postseason series when they defeated the New York Rangers in five games in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
NHL.com independent correspondent Andy Eide contributed to this report
