2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Oilers vs. Kings first-round preview
McDavid, Draisaitl each topped 110 points for Edmonton; Los Angeles counting on goaltending in best-of-7 series
(2P) Edmonton Oilers vs. (3P) Los Angeles Kings
Oilers:49-27-6, 104 points
Kings:44-27-11, 99 points
Season series:EDM 3-1-0; LAK 1-2-1
Game 1: Monday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN2, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSW)
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl racked up the points and accolades again this season, but the Edmonton Oilers' Western Conference First Round series against the Los Angeles Kings is more likely to be a referendum on their all-around game.
McDavid won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring leader for the fourth time with a career-best 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) in 80 games, and Draisaitl reached the 50-goal mark for the second time in his career and finished fourth in the NHL scoring race with 110 points (55 goals, 55 assists) in 80 games.
Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft believes McDavid, Edmonton's captain, will lead them into the Stanley Cup Playoffs not only with offense, but with a sound, complete game.
"There's almost a consensus that well, it's McDavid being McDavid, that's what he does," Woodcroft said. "But he's had a career high. And he's driving our team and he's playing the game the right way. He's driven to win."
Edmonton's better balance and increased attention to defensive detail marked its rise from six points out of a playoff spot when Woodcroft replaced fired Dave Tippett on Feb. 10 to second place in the division. The Oilers allowed fewer goals per game (2.76) after that date as opposed to before it (3.32).
The challenge for the Oilers will be to bring that into a best-of-7 series against the Kings, forward Derek Ryan said.
"You have to be patient in your game," Ryan said. "You can't get outside of your game to try to create chances because they're just going to turn the puck over and create their own chances. You can't turn it into a track meet. They won't allow it to.
"They have the core there that knows how to win and if you ask me, come playoff time, that's how you win. You're defensively sound, you don't give up much and you take advantage of your opportunities."
RELATED: [Complete Oilers vs. Kings series coverage]
The Oilers and Kings arrived at their first-round series five points apart in the Pacific Division standings though by decidedly different paths.
Edmonton reached the postseason for the third straight season after a 16-5-0 start, a 2-11-2 slide from Dec. 3-Jan. 20 and then going 26-9-3 after Woodcroft became coach.
In qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017-18, the Kings went 1-5-1 to start the season, followed that up with seven straight victories, then found a cohesive team game that kept them consistently competitive so they could build a second half of 24-11-6.
Los Angeles' leading scorer is captain and 16-season veteran Anze Kopitar, whose 67 points (19 goals, 48 assists) in 81 games were barely more than half of McDavid's production this season.
"The two words I think that we would use around our group is 'team' and 'identity' and nobody walks into the Kings locker room worrying about themselves," coach Todd McLellan said. "He worries about the team and that's what allows us to do what we did this year. We don't have 60-goal scorers, we likely don't have Hart Trophy candidates, but we've got a group that wants to play as a team night in and night out and they worry about that first and that allows us to do what we did."
McLellan coached the Oilers from 2015-19 with Woodcroft as one of his assistants from 2015-18.
This will be the eighth time the Oilers and Kings have met in the playoffs. Edmonton holds the edge with five series wins to two. The last time the teams played in the postseason was in the 1992 Division Semifinals, won by Edmonton in six games, the third straight year the Oilers defeated the Kings in the playoffs.
Game breakers
Oilers: McDavid became the seventh player in NHL history with at least four scoring titles (Wayne Gretzky, 10; Mario Lemieux, six; Gordie Howe, six; Phil Esposito, five; Jaromir Jagr, five; Stan Mikita, four). His NHL career-best season was the fifth time he's scored at least 100 points in the regular season. The 25-year-old has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 21 playoff games.
Kings: Adrian Kempe has been a streaky scorer this season but finished with a career-best 35 goals and seven game-winners to lead the Kings. The 25-year-old has elite speed and plays both special teams for Los Angeles. Kempe scored 54 points (35 goals, 19 assists) in 78 games to post the best point total of his career despite a slow start with one assist in his first six games and a second-half slump, going pointless in 10 games between Feb. 26-March 15.
Goaltending
Oilers: Mike Smith (16-9-2, 2.81 goals against average, .915 save percentage, two shutouts in 28 games) has had a strong second half after missing most of the first half due to injury. The 40-year-old won nine straight games (April 1-26) to tie Jacques Plante for the longest winning streak in NHL history by a goalie aged 40 or older. Mikko Koskinen (27-12-4, 3.10 GAA, .903 save percentage, one shutout in 45 games) is the backup.
Kings:Jonathan Quick (23-13-9, 2.59 GAA, .910 save percentage, two shutouts in 46 games) is the Kings starter. The 36-year-old has extensive playoff experience; (46-39, 2.23 GAA, .922 save percentage, nine shutouts in 85 games) but has not had a postseason start since April 17, 2018. He won the Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2012 and 2014. Cal Petersen (20-14-2, 2.89 GAA, .895 save percentage, three shutouts in 37 games) is the backup.
Numbers to know
Oilers:Edmonton had the third-best power play in the NHL (26.0 percent), behind the Toronto Maple Leafs (27.3 percent) and St. Louis Blues (27 percent), and scored the seventh-most power-play goals, (61).
Kings:The Kings were tied for third with the Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild with seven victories when trailing after the second period (7-21-3), behind only the Florida Panthers (11) and Columbus Blue Jackets (nine).
X-factors
Oilers: Kailer Yamamoto. This will be the 23-year-old's third trip to the playoffs, with one assist in eight previous games. Yamamoto had 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 81 regular-season games but averaged fewer than 1.5 shots per game (114 shots in 81 games). That's a low number for a top-six forward but if he can find the mark a little more given the quality minutes he plays, it could make a major difference for Edmonton.
Kings:Viktor Arvidsson. The 29-year-old is in the postseason for the seventh straight year and he's found a way to contribute in the past, with 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 61 playoff games for the Nashville Predators between 2016-21. Arvidsson is coming of a season in which he scored 49 points (20 goals, 29 assists) in 66 games and his ability to create and finish opportunities enhances the Kings' chances.
They said it
"We know the way that Todd [McLellan] coaches. It's going to be tight-checking, we know that. They don't want to give up anything off the rush. That's something that when we played Winnipeg last year, that was kind of their mentality in the first round as well. I think we've grown as a team and learned from that and have found ways to get around that a little bit better this year. Obviously it's going to be a tough series, a tight-checking series but we've got to find a way to get that extra one or just push that a little bit harder." -- Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
"We stuck with the system and we played well and we played our game and we trusted each other. We believe in [ourselves]. And here we are today. 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 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." -- Kings forward Phillip Danault
Will win if …
Oilers: McDavid and Draisaitl are always going to get their opportunities but Edmonton's success will be more dependent on how well it defends. The Oilers chances go up proportionately with how much they improve on the 3.75 goals against per game they allowed in their past two postseason appearances, both losses in the opening round.
Kings: Strong goaltending and alert defending keep the Oilers' stars from lighting up the scoreboard. A run-and-gun series won't favor Los Angeles, which scored an average of 2.87 goals per game this season compared to Edmonton's 3.48, but it will still need down-the-lineup offensive contributions.
How they look
Oilers projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Connor McDavid -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Zach Hyman -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto
Warren Foegele -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Derek Ryan
Ryan McLeod -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Cody Ceci
Duncan Keith -- Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak -- Tyson Barrie
Kris Russell
Mike Smith
Mikko Koskinen
Scratched:Derek Brassard, Devin Shore, Josh Archibald
Injured:None
Kings projected lineup
Andreas Athanasiou -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore -- Phillip Danault -- Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Iafallo -- Blake Lizotte -- Dustin Brown
Carl Grundstrom -- Quinton Byfield -- Arthur Kaliyev
Alexander Edler -- Matt Roy
Tobias Bjornfot -- Sean Durzi
Olli Maatta -- Jordan Spence
Jonathan Quick
Cal Petersen
Scratched:Gabriel Vilardi, Brendan Lemieux, Rasmus Kupari, Lias Andersson, Jacob Moverare, Troy Stecher, Austin Strand
Injured: Drew Doughty (wrist), Sean Walker (knee), Mikey Anderson (upper body)
