Kings have their best chance in years to finally get past the Oilers in Round 1

New York Times

21-04-2025

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It is time. It has been time.
Monday night is the true beginning for the Los Angeles Kings. Fair or not, what the Kings have done to this point of the season doesn't matter a whole lot. It isn't that seven months and 82 games should be ignored. They've done a lot to this point; more than, I suspect, a fair number imagined. Including myself.
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The Kings have responded to a third straight first-round loss to the Edmonton Oilers — this one in just five games and more decisive than the other two — with a 2024-25 season where they tied franchise bests of 48 victories and 105 points. If their destination was the mushy middle, that place where you're too good to be bad but not nearly good enough to be great, well … they rerouted and jumped on the ramp to Stanley Cup Highway. Now it's a question of whether they'll blow a tire or run out of fuel — or, gasp, go the distance.
Let's not jump ahead of ourselves. It takes 16 wins, and the Kings have struggled to grab four since winning it all in 2014. Five playoff series since then and just seven wins total. One fewer win in each of the last three postseasons. May hockey in downtown L.A. has trended toward becoming extinct.
Of course, there was a major retool for three years around pillars Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, the only two other than Trevor Lewis (who returned in 2023) from the championship era. But from controlling Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to team president Luc Robitaille to general manager Rob Blake, there clearly wasn't an interest in stripping the franchise to the studs and asking the fan base to endure many losing seasons. The rosters have reflected that approach ever since the King signed Phillip Danault to a seven-year deal in 2022.
Through trial and error, the Kings arrive at an upcoming Game 1 with their best chance to beat the Oilers in years. This is the deepest club out of the four to cut down the two-headed dragon that is Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. And this looks like the most vulnerable Oilers club they'll face yet in this annual confrontation.
It was meant to be. And that may be the best thing for the Kings.
'That's just kind of how it went that we felt in playing them again,' Quinton Byfield said. 'Obviously if you want to make it all the way, you got to beat them at some point. It's good that it's the first round. We got to get this over with.'
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Not everyone went with this concept, that conquering their running quandary with the Oilers carries more meaning than trying to break out of the first round against another club in the Western Conference.
'I'm glad we're in,' Kings coach Jim Hiller said. 'I'm glad we're in, and I'm glad we got a chance to break through anybody. We haven't broke through for a while. It's time for us. I don't think it carries any special weight that it's the Oilers or it was Vegas or somebody else. This is about us and we want to push through.'
Even Doughty, who's long been as outspoken as anyone on the Kings, said, 'It doesn't really matter. Yeah, another shot at them is great. They're a great team. Got some great, amazing players. It's going to be a challenge.'
'Yeah, it didn't matter who it was,' Doughty continued. 'It's playoffs. You got to beat everyone if you want the ultimate goal, so it didn't matter.'
Hype it up. Downplay it. Whatever view you take, the Kings have a hurdle to clear that becomes more mental with each series loss to Edmonton. And that could be just what they need to put together a real playoff run.
The Kings have momentum on their side with a regular-season finish that had them win 17 of their final 22 games. They've got health on their side with only Tanner Jeannot unavailable, though it's possible the physical fourth-line grinder could become an option at some point in the playoffs. And they've got a depth-driven lineup that now has more sources of offense.
The deadline addition of Andrei Kuzmenko has worked wonders. Kuzmenko has five goals and 12 assists in his 22 games with the Kings, which are good numbers on their own but made more impressive by his going his first seven games without a point. Even when it took him a bit to get on the scoresheet, Kuzmenko's creativity immediately meshed with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe on the top line. His right-hand shot has been what they needed on the power play. It clicked at 23.9 percent with him after being 15 percent without.
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Some of it can be pure coincidence, but the Kings' finishing kick came once Kuzmenko was in the fold. He isn't the only reason why their offensive output has jumped from 2.80 goals per game to 3.68, but being able to stop the turnstile of wingers that played with Kopitar and Kempe further solidified their lines.
The Kings are now set with that grouping and can come back with Byfield centering Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere, followed by a pure forechecking, puck-hounding trio of Danault centering Warren Foegele and Moore. And with Byfield now earning some defensive assignments against the opposition's top lines, Hiller can feel comfortable deploying him, Danault or Kopitar against McDavid and Draisaitl in these critical center matchups.
Goals must come from throughout their lineup, but the Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere line has emerged as one that can drive play and produce. When it comes to the postseason, these three have something to prove and they're pivotal to the Kings' chances. Fiala's blazing second half ended with a career-high 35 goals, which tied Kempe for the team lead.
And the Kings showed in meetings where they were victorious that they could hang with the Oilers in five-on-five play. That must continue. Keeping their trips to the penalty box to a minimum and not letting the Oilers feast on the power play is paramount. McDavid and Draisaitl destroyed the Kings' penalty kill in last spring's five-game triumph that became the first stop on their run to the Cup Final.
But the Kings do have reason to feel bullish about flipping the script. The Oilers are limping into this matchup. Both McDavid and Draisaitl missed several games down the stretch with injuries and while they'll be good to go for Game 1, they're not likely to be operating in perfect health. Mattias Ekholm won't be on their blue line for the series and that's a massive loss in their defense.
Run through the rest of their roster and there's more that are banged up. They've been able to rest Zach Hyman and Jake Walman but forwards Trent Frederic and Evander Kane — who hasn't played all season and has dealt with multiple muscle tears that required surgery — are questionable to start. Factor in that the team's depth players are older after losing Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to the St. Louis Blues and that the Kings start with Games 1 and 2 at home, and they've become a popular pick to end their first-round drought.
But that means the Kings also have a lot to prove. They might have racked up 31 home wins to set a new franchise record but that won't mean anything if the Oilers come into Crypto.com Arena and take one or both of the two games. The Kings need to build momentum and holding serve will go a long way toward that. Across the three series, Edmonton has won six of the eight meetings playing in Los Angeles. That's got to change.
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But there exists a confidence among the Kings that wasn't as fervent a year ago. Having playoff-hardened veterans like Foegele, defenseman Joel Edmundson and goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who have either played for the Stanley Cup or hoisted the trophy, gives them reason to think they'll better handle the roller-coaster moments.
'I believe in our roster,' Moore said. 'You look at our (defense). Pretty heavy. Physical. And then we have a lot of depth up front, which I think makes it hard for any team.'
And they're simply a better team. This is the best Kings club of the four thrown at the Oilers. They've got to show it, starting Monday night.
'Once you don't win for so long, you start doubting yourself,' Doughty said. 'Doubting a lot of things you do. It's not that I'm doubting myself right now, but there are times I was going through where I was and that's not like me to do that.
'Yeah, we need to win.'
It's time. If not now, will it ever be?
(Top photo of Anze Kopitar and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Robert Hanashiro / Imagn Images)