There’s a saying down here on the farm in Alberta, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” Suppose the Edmonton Oilers are watching all of the hockey shows and reading all the playoff articles since the end of the regular season. In that case, they might have a reason to feel overconfident going into their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings. Almost everybody and their dog is picking the Oilers to beat the Kings in their first-round NHL Playoff Series.
But hold your horses for a second. The Kings are a pretty good team who finished only five points behind the Oilers. If any players or fans think this will be a cakewalk for the Oilers, you’d better go back and watch the old Miracle on Manchester highlights when the underdog Kings got the better of the star-studded Oilers in 1982. That humbling loss for the Oilers helped prepare the Dynasty team of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, and company for greater things ahead. If you’re an Oilers fan, you have to hope that the team’s current version featuring Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Stuart Skinner has eaten enough humble pie in the playoffs these past few seasons. Time will quickly tell.
1st Round Series Against Kings Won’t Be Easy for the Oilers
There were mixed reactions following the final night of the 2023-24 NHL Regular Season when the Oilers finally found out who their opponents were for the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It looked like the Vegas Golden Knights would be the Oilers’ first-round opponent until they unexpectedly lost to the lowly Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on April 18. Fans in Oil Country were preparing to see the medical marvel Mark Stone lead the much despised Golden Knights onto the ice in Edmonton. Still, unfortunately, it didn’t materialize as Viktor Arvidsson of the Kings tied their game against the Chicago Blackhawks with 1:21 left on the clock to send the Kings to Edmonton.
Related: 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff Round 1 Predictions
If you look at the predictions for the first round, many feel the Oilers dodged a bullet by playing the Kings rather than the Golden Knights. Hopefully, that sentiment hasn’t swept through the Oilers dressing room because they could be in for a rude awakening if it has.
Oilers Have Not Won a Game One in a Playoff In Seven Years
If the Oilers can somehow take Game One on home ice against the Kings on Monday, April 22, it’ll mark the first time in seven years that they’ve won Game One in a playoff series. The last time they did it was against Corey Perry and the Anaheim Ducks on April 26, 2017. That’s six series in a row when the opposing team took Game One and left the Oilers in a hole, including the last two playoff series against the Kings. It could easily happen again as the Kings have a lot of talent led by future Hall of Famers Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar. The Kings also have Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, and Quinton Byfield, who could make a difference against the Oilers. With the Kings’s 1-3-1 system of clogging up the neutral zone, the Oilers coaching staff will have to figure out ways to get around it.
If the Oilers spend a lot of time in the King’s zone, the Kings will have to hope that either former Oilers netminder Cam Talbot or former Calgary Flames goalie “Big Save” Dave Rittich can stop the Oilers’ offensive machine. Goaltending could be the King’s Achilles heel, but you never know if Talbot or Rittich gets hot. Meanwhile, the Oilers goaltending tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard still have much to prove, so you never know.
Predictions on the Oilers/Kings First Round Stanley Cup Playoffs Series
What are your predictions for the Oilers/Kings First Round Stanley Cup Playoff Series? Do you think the Oilers will beat the Kings for the third year in a row? Or is this the year the Kings beat the Oilers? Let us know in the comment section below. Be nice in your comments. If you’re in a bad mood, maybe go for a walk or take a nap before posting something disrespectful. We’ll all be that much better for it.