EDMONTON ā 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 itās a "big deal" for his team to finish ahead of Edmonton in the standings this time and earn home-ice advantage.
āItās a big accomplishment, obviously we havenāt had it yet, so itās fun, itās a good push,ā Anderson said. āYou want to get first, everyone does, but weāre happy with what weāve done so far, itās a good step and now we just keep plugging along and get ready for the next one.ā
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 Kingsā 31-5-4 home record this season.
āIt means a lot. Weāve established our home game well all season, we have really good confidence there and weāve shown over the last couple of weeks that we can play better on the road as well,ā he said.
āI think considering they were missing a lot of guys tonight, we still played to our strengths and played a consistent and solid game. We werenāt 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 weāre pretty happy with our game right now.ā
Mondayās game isnāt 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 Edmontonās lineup, Kings forward Phillip Danault was quoted in a second period intermission TV interview as saying: āI think they just have their B squad in trying to hurt us.ā
Oilers veteran forward Corey Perry was ticked off when he heard the comment after the game.
āWhat the (expletive)!? Excuse my language, but what do you want us to do?ā he said. āDid he not see what has happened (to our team) over the last couple of weeks? What does he want us to do? Weāre not out there to hurt anybody. Letās move on.ā
The Kings were upset after Byfield left the game and didnāt 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 whatās ahead of us, a gruelling series, it was a rough one, but the refs did a good job keeping everything under control, they didnāt really let anything go,ā Brown said.
āItās a good team over there, itās a good team in here. Itās going to be a good series. Itās exciting. Obviously a bit of a frustrating one (tonight), but come next week itās going to be exciting.ā
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
