EDMONTON — It will be the same dance partners for the first round of playoffs, but the opening venue will be different this time.
The Los Angeles Kings beat up the depleted Edmonton Oilers 5-0 on Monday, officially earning home-ice advantage for the opening round of the NHL playoffs as the two Pacific Division rivals will meet for the fourth consecutive year in the post-season.
Edmonton had home ice the previous three post-season encounters and won all three series.
Kings defenceman Mikey Anderson said it’s a "big deal" for his team to finish ahead of Edmonton in the standings this time and earn home-ice advantage.
“It’s a big accomplishment, obviously we haven’t had it yet, so it’s fun, it’s a good push,” Anderson said. “You want to get first, everyone does, but we’re happy with what we’ve done so far, it’s a good step and now we just keep plugging along and get ready for the next one.”
Adrian Kempe had a goal and two assists and Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles. Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov also scored for the Kings (47-24-9) who have won seven of their last eight.
Kempe said starting the series against the Oilers at home is a big deal, especially considering the Kings’ 31-5-4 home record this season.
“It means a lot. We’ve established our home game well all season, we have really good confidence there and we’ve shown over the last couple of weeks that we can play better on the road as well,” he said.
“I think considering they were missing a lot of guys tonight, we still played to our strengths and played a consistent and solid game. We weren’t cheating for offence and special teams have been really good over the last couple of weeks too, which is going to be really important going into the playoffs. I think we’re pretty happy with our game right now.”
Monday’s game isn’t likely to be much of an example of what the Oilers truly have to bring to the table.
The Oilers rested star forward Connor McDavid and were also without the likes of Leon Draisaitl (undisclosed), Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Trent Frederic (ankle), Zach Hyman (undisclosed), Evander Kane (hip, knee), Troy Stetcher (undisclosed) and Jake Walman (undisclosed).
With so much star power out of Edmonton’s lineup, Kings forward Phillip Danault was quoted in a second period intermission TV interview as saying: “I think they just have their B squad in trying to hurt us.”
Oilers veteran forward Corey Perry was ticked off when he heard the comment after the game.
“What the (expletive)!? Excuse my language, but what do you want us to do?” he said. “Did he not see what has happened (to our team) over the last couple of weeks? What does he want us to do? We’re not out there to hurt anybody. Let’s move on.”
The Kings were upset after Byfield left the game and didn’t return after being cross-checked to the ice by Oilers defender Darnell Nurse and then again to the head while he was down, a play that might merit a suspension.
Oilers forward Connor Brown said the bad blood on the night, with 14 power plays awarded between the two teams, just shows that the upcoming playoff series is going to be wild.
"Everyone knows what’s ahead of us, a gruelling series, it was a rough one, but the refs did a good job keeping everything under control, they didn’t really let anything go,” Brown said.
“It’s a good team over there, it’s a good team in here. It’s going to be a good series. It’s exciting. Obviously a bit of a frustrating one (tonight), but come next week it’s going to be exciting.”
The Oilers needed seven games to knock out the Kings in 2022, eliminated them in six games in 2023 and were victorious in five games in 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2025.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
