PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 1)

The Edmonton Oilers begin their quest for the Stanley Cup with Game 1 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place on Monday night.

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

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Game previews during the 2024 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Kings (Game 1)

EDMONTON, AB – Round 1. Game 1.

The Edmonton Oilers are set to begin their 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff campaign at Rogers Place on Monday with Game 1 against an all-too-familiar foe in the Los Angeles Kings, who’ll oppose them in the first round for the third straight postseason.

“It's going to be a good series,” defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. “We know them pretty well and they know us pretty well, so I'm sure it'll be a series of tactics and trying to get the most out of your own team. It's a great challenge for us and I'm looking forward to it.”

There’ll be no surprises between the two Pacific Division rivals after going toe-to-toe in the 2022 & 2023 playoffs, waging two hard-fought series that saw them stack up closely with one another in some tightly contested games where the balance shifted on a dime’s edge.

Of their previous 13 meetings in the last two playoffs, nine games have been decided by two goals or less, while four have needed overtime to decide a winner. In 2023, four of the six games saw multi-goal deficits be erased on either side – including in Game 4 when the Oilers overcame 3-0 and 4-3 deficits to tie the series 2-2 before never relinquishing the lead again.

The Kings have proved a worthy adversary in each matchup with their 1-3-1 neutral-zone forecheck that has become a strong part of their identity as a team, but despite the Oilers trailing after Game 1 in each series, they've been able to find the extra gear and complete the victories in seven and six games.

“I think both teams know each other really well. That’s no secret,” Leon Draisaitl said. “We’ve played a lot of hockey against each other over the last three years, so every series I think writes its own story a little bit. I'm sure there will be certain surprises at certain moments, but obviously, we know their team well and it just goes both ways. They know us and we know them.”

Despite their previous success, finding a way to beat the Kings for the third straight year will not be an easy task for the Oilers, and the team that executes the best on their certain brands of hockey will be the one to move on, says the captain.

“Well, we've never done it. We're going to find out obviously,” McDavid said. “I think just a familiarity. Nobody's going to surprise anyone here with their game. We know what they want to do, they know what we want to do, and it's just about who's going to do it better. That's what it comes down to."

The Oilers compiled a remarkable 46-18-5 record during the regular season under Head Coach Kris Knoblauch after being hired on Nov. 12, when the club was sat near the bottom of the NHL standings after a dreadful 3-9-1 start to the year.

Beginning on American Thanksgiving as the Oilers sat 10 points out of a playoff spot, Knoblauch would guide his team to victories in 44 of their next 63 games, including separate eight and 16-game winning streaks to settle into second place in the Pacific with their third straight 100-point season.

Knoblauch will be coaching his first NHL playoff game on Monday and will be relying on his extensive playoff experience at the junior and AHL levels – along with the rest of the Oilers coaching staff – to help guide him through the process.

"You never know until you're in the fight, and when you go from game to game, that'll obviously be changing," he said. "There are some differences. There are some things that obviously I have to adjust to. But since I got here – whether it's regular season in the AHL, junior or the NHL – I've coached quite similarly throughout it. And I know going into the playoffs, there's going to be changes that are different from my past experiences, but I'm going to rely heavily on them."

The Kings also have a rookie coach in Jim Hiller, who took over behind the LA bench for Todd McLellan in early February and steadied the ship with a 21-12-1 record under his watch. Either Hiller or Knoblauch could become the eighth head coach in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after taking over head coaching duties mid-season.

Having been down this path a few times and being bested by the eventual Stanley Cup champion in the last two postseasons, the Oilers players feel elevated by their previous playoff falters that will serve as valuable lessons for what it'll take this time around to lift hockey's holy grail.

That maturity inside the Oilers dressing room begins with not underestimating their opponent, because they know probably better than anyone in the NHL just what kind of threat the Kings pose as a first-round opponent.

"I think that can be half the battle sometimes in the playoffs understanding that it's a game of mistakes and that's going to happen," Draisaitl said. "You can rebound from them, but ultimately, you don't want to make those mistakes. You don't want to give up the freebies, and I think that's what LA does so well. They don't give up many freebies. They make you earn everything you get, and we've got to do the same thing."

"Two years ago, there are probably a lot more individual mistakes made than there's going to be this year. We're a mature group. We know how to play this team and we know what it takes. That being said, we know it's going to be really hard. They're a good team. They've made the playoffs for three years in a row now for a reason, so it'll be a good series."

The Oilers will be hoping to have Evander Kane back in the lineup for Game 1 after the winger skated in full during Saturday's practice despite revealing he's been fighting a sports hernia injury all season, leading to him taking the last week to try and recuperate before the start of the playoffs.

Coach Knoblauch said he anticipates the 32-year-old to be in the lineup and start in a fourth-line role for the first few shifts before hopefully getting worked back into the mix in the top six.

"He's been on the ice for a while now and we want to make sure that he's ready to go," Knoblauch said. "We've got a lot of guys who are playing well. We're going to be taking somebody out, which is going to be tough, but when we have Evander and he's able to play and he's healthy, we want him in the lineup."