The Edmonton Oilers host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night in Game 1 of their rematch in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet & CBC or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 7:30 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. LAK
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Leon Draisaitl
PRE-GAME RAW | Cody Ceci
RECENT VIDEOS
THE PANEL | Royal Rematch
RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft 04.16.23
RAW | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 04.16.23
RAW | Evander Kane 04.16.23
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Kings Statistics
Stats Comparison
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
BLOG: Oilers ready to ramp up physicality
BLOG: Excitement builds in Oilers locker room
FUTURE WATCH: Lavoie leading Condors
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Monday's game on Sportsnet & CBC at 8:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from practice on Sunday as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach, including the Oilers expecting to answer the post-season physicality of the Kings in Round 1.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - There is no more waiting Oil Country, the playoffs are finally here.
Rogers Place will be rocking tonight as the Oilers faceoff against the Los Angeles Kings for a second straight year. The two Pacific Division rivals are ready to renew familiarities in what should be a physical and tightly contested series.
"Yeah, it's going to be fun. It's going to be tight, they're all going to be tight, competitive games. You know that this is the best time of the year, everyone's excited," Leon Draisaitl said. "It seems like the whole city is looking forward to it and it's been a good rivalry over the last couple of years here and should be fun."
A lot has changed between the two sides since last season's playoff clash. The Kings have added a little more offensive firepower with the addition of Kevin Fiala who had 72 points (23G, 49A) in 69 games this season while bolstering their already stingy defence with trade deadline pickups Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.
As well as all the new additions, Los Angeles still has Stanley Cup holdovers in Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty to anchor their young and feisty group of players.
"I think they have good depth. They're good pros, they all play the right way. They play their system very well, and they're pretty familiar with it, so I think that's what makes them tough to play," Cody Ceci said. "They do have some guys that are offensive enough to hurt you if you give them a chance, Kopitar being one of them. He's been around and he's won the cup before, so it's familiar territory for him."
The Oilers have seen their fair share of changes as well. Los Angeles likes to impose their will physically, taking advantage of their depth by rolling four lines. Edmonton's moves over the last year allow them to matchup very well with the Los Angeles squad, adding a bevy of size and playoff experience. Since the start of the season, the Oilers have added Mattias Ekholm, Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Desharnais, Mattias Janmark, and Klim Kostin to their lineup.
The addition of size and skill makes the Oilers a more versatile team in this year's postseason. Country or Rock-n-roll, the Oilers can dance to either, so just pick the tune.
"I think one of our team strengths is our ability to adapt a game plan, an ability to be flexible," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I said this yesterday, but we have an unshakable belief in our players and our ability to rise to the occasion."

"We can win anyway, it doesn't matter. We can win a game 2-1, we can win a game 6-0. We can probably win some nights giving up some goals too, but that's obviously something that we're not planning on," Draisaitl said. "We have different ways of beating teams and if we have to stay patient and play a low scoring, low event kind of game, then we're very comfortable with that."

PAIR OF PLAYOFF PERFORMERS

Last year against the Kings, it was the incredible offensive output by the Oilers Dynamic Duo that helped propel Edmonton to their seven-game series victory.
McDavid wrapped up the series with an incredible 14 points (4G, 10A) and Draisaitl finished with nine of his own (5G, 4A) while fighting through an injury. Their dominance extended throughout the remainder of the Oilers run, finishing the playoffs with a combined 65 points in 16 games.
McDavid and Draisaitl just didn't stop scoring once this season began. The pair terrorized opponents all year long, finishing 1-2 in league scoring and combining for 281 points. The added experience of a long playoff run was the motivation for what ended up being historic seasons from the pair.
"I think it was there all year long, right from game one. He's been incredible for us all season long. I think last year gave him and us a little taste of what we can do, but we still weren't satisfied," Ceci said. "I think he showed right from game one all the way through game 82, just how dominant he can be. We're just hoping that keeps up during the playoffs, but I'm sure it will, I mean, takes care of himself so well, so I'm excited to see what he can do."
In 2022-23, coach Woodcroft reunited McDavid and Draisaitl for most of the postseason, making the Oilers a top-heavy squad. This year's team is bolstered by greater depth and career seasons by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, who notched 187 points of their own. Their emergence allowed the league's two-best players to spend the majority of the season on separate lines, outside of key situations and the league's best power play.
"Yeah, that's huge for us, and it's been big for us all year. To be able to have those guys on separate lines, I think helps us out a lot, and then if we need them to play together, they're comfortable with playing with each other, and we can throw them out together at any time," Ceci said. "I think just having that in our back pocket is big for us and it helps us against anyone."

Another change from last year is in the health of Leon Draisaitl, who was slewfoot by Kings defender Mikey Anderson in Game 6 of the series and had to hobble through the remainder of the series and playoffs. The German sniper enters the playoffs healthy and on his best form heading into Monday's Game 1, scoring 39 points in 21 games since March 1. Draisaitl says he learned a lot about himself as he grit through the pain in his dominant playoff performance, but he'd like to avoid having to do it two-years running.
"Yeah, I hope I don't have to do that again this year, but it just helped me grow as a person, as a player," he said. "You learn from those things, and you try and take something positive out of it, as hard as it is in the moment. But like I said, I'm hoping that I don't have to deal with that again this year."
"I mean it was a testament to his pain threshold for sure," Woodcroft said about Draisaitl's performance. "Somebody who, you knew what he put his body through to get ready for every game, it was outstanding. But, that was last year. We're here getting ready to take on a really good team in the LA Kings and we're happy that he's at 100%."

SKINNER STARTS

Stuart Skinner will man the Oilers crease once puck drops for Game 1, making his first National Hockey League playoff start.
The 24-year-old is coming off a Calder Trophy worthy season, going 29-14-5 with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 50 appearances. He is a rookie, who doesn't act or play like a rookie. His aura of maturity gives his teammates confidence that he can get the job done on the NHL's biggest stage.
"I think just his demeanor, he seems so much older than he actually is. There's going to be some nerves, and that's normal. We're all going to have nerves. But I think he's been in these situations all his life," Draisaitl said about Skinner. "He's played in big time games, and really, if you think about it's just another game. Yeah, there's going to be 10,000 more people. It's going to be a little louder, but it's really all it is. He's going to be great for us, and obviously we know that, and we trust him."
Skinner does have big game experience over the course of his hockey career. In the Western Hockey League, he carried the Lethbridge Hurricanes deep into the playoffs in 2016-17 before winning the Ed Chynoweth cup with the Swift Current Broncos the following season. Skinner has also started 15 playoff games in the American Hockey League for the Bakersfield Condors, leading the team to the Pacific Division championship in 2020-21's Covid shortened season.
"I think that'll help him out a lot." Ceci said about his goaltender's playoff experience. "I mean, he's just a calm guy. He's been calm, cool, and collected for us all year long, so I don't expect that to change too much. I think everyone gets a little nervous for the first game in playoffs, playing at home and the crowd's going crazy, but I think he'll settle right in for us."
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. KINGS (Game 1)
WATCH:8:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet & CBC
Oilers Team Scope
The Edmonton Oilers enter the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a healthy roster and having played their best hockey of the season prior to the start of the postseason with a 15-game point streak (14-0-1) and nine-game undefeated run.
"You hope that your team goes in as healthy as possible, but there's going to be a lot of hockey played over a short period of time here," defenceman Darnell Nurse said.
The Oilers are bolstered this playoff run by three 100-point scorers in Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Calder Trophy-contender Stuart Skinner, who set a new franchise rookie record for wins by a goalie (29) this season.
All 12 Edmonton forwards boast double-digit goals, while on the back end, Mattias Ekholm anchors the top pairing with Evan Bouchard for an Oilers defensive corps that will present challenges for the Kings at both ends of the ice.
"We've been looking forward to this day for a little bit now, a couple of weeks," winger Evander Kane said. "So I think guys are excited, ready to go and looking forward to Monday."
Kane is one of 15 players who faced elimination in Game 6 of 2022's first-round victory over the Kings before winning in seven games, but Oilers have re-tooled this season with a couple key additions from last year's playoff roster in Ekholm, Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Desharnais and Stuart Skinner to push beyond last season's Western Conference Final appearance.
"We've gone through it before. We played these guys last year," Kane said. "Obviously both teams are a little different, but we found ourselves down 3-2 in a series going to LA, so we understand the mental grind. We went through it last year and I think that experience is something that hopefully can help us this time around."
"I think for the players and the staff that were with the team last year, we all learned some things on that deep playoff run, but last year's last year," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft added. "This year, it's a completely new regular season and completely new playoffs, and I think experience is never a bad thing, especially if you learn lessons from it."

Kings Team Scope
One year removed from their first-round exit to Edmonton in last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Kings return for a rematch another year wiser and with a different dynamic to their team like the Oilers.
Los Angeles finished the regular season 47-25-10 and captured the third seed in the Pacific Division to clinch their second straight playoff berth -- their first stretch of post-season appearances since winning two Stanley Cups between 2009-10 and 2013-14.
Anze Kopitar had a team-high 74 points this season and has been a major playoff contributor over his career in LA, posting 70 points in 86 career playoff games (22G, 48A), but off-season signing Kevin Fiala proved to be the offensive leader the Kings deeply desired when healthy by posting 72 points in 69 games and a career-high 24 on the power play. However, Fiala is a big question mark along with Gabe Vilardi for Monday's game due to injury after missing the last six games of the regular season and not participating in LA's practice on Sunday before departing to Edmonton.
Drew Doughty missed the last month of the 2021-22 season and the whole series against Edmonton last year after undergoing wrist surgery in April, but the defenceman returned to his elite ways this campaign with 51 points in 81 games and has 84 matches of playoff experience to bring to the table. Netminders Pheonix Copley and Joonas Korpisalo have formed a strong tandem since the latter's acqusition by LA before the Trade Deadline, and one of them will have the first crack at becoming the first Kings netminder not named Jonathan Quick to win a playoff game Felix Potvin in Game 6 of the 2002 Conference Quarterfinals.
"We have a really good idea of what we'd like to do, and when Game 1 rolls around, we'll have that guy in there and ready to go," McLellan said. "The other guy, whoever it might be, will be anxious to play. He knows that we believe in that individual because we've used these guys down the stretch and they've both played really well. If there's one area of comfort going into the playoffs, it's that we've got two guys who are ready to play."
LA's depth goes deep like Edmonton with 11 players having double-digit goals on the season. The Kings had 11 players make their playoff debuts last season in the opening round who'll be relied upon more thios time around to raise their game and help match the challenge that Edmonton will present.
"The term 'younger guys', we've played 82 games. I don't know that we have a rookie on our team," Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan said in an article by LA Kings Insider. "We don't have 'younger guys' anymore, we have players that have experience now, we have players that have played in the playoffs before, we have players that have played large parts of important games in different situations. They need to produce, simple as that."
By The Numbers
This will be the ninth all-time playoff series between the Oilers & Kings... The Oilers are 6-2 in their previous eight meetings... Oilers are 28-15 all-time in the playoffs vs the Kings, outscoring them 181-144... Oilers are 16-7 all-time at home in the playoffs vs the Kings, and 12-8 on the road... The Oilers & Kings split their 4 meetings this season 2-2, with the Kings outscoring the Oilers 10-9... The Oilers have made the playoffs for the fourth straight season, their longest streak since making five straight trips from 1996-97 to 2000-01..
The Oilers ended the regular season on a nine-game win streak, tying the longest in a season in franchise history... The streak is tied for the second-longest to end a regular season among teams to make the playoffs... Edmonton ended the season on a 15-game point streak, going 14-0-1 and outscoring opponents 67-33... That tied the second-longest point streak in a season in franchise history... Connor McDavid led the Oilers with 14 points in last year's series (4G, 10A), while Evander Kane led in goals with seven... Adrian Kempe led the Kings with six points in the series (2G, 4A), while Phillip Danault & Carl Grundstrom led in goals with three...
McDavid has 55 points in 37 career playoff games (21G, 34A), tied for the fourth-most points through a player's first 37 playoff games in NHL history... Leon Draisaitl has 59 points in 37 career playoff games (18G, 41A), good for the third-most points/game in playoff history (min. 30 GP)... He had 32 points in 16 games in the 2022 playoffs (7G, 25A), including 17 points in just five games in Round 2 against the Flames (2G, 15A)... Evander Kane had five multi-goal games in the 2022 playoffs, tied for the 3rd-most in a single postseason in NHL history, and tied for first in the post-season scoring lead with 13 goals in 15 games...
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com