Oilers Look To Start Hot Against Kings
Edmonton Favored Per the Oilers vs Kings Odds
For the third straight season, the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers face off in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The Oilers are favorites in both the series and the game via the Kings vs Oilers odds. Edmonton is priced at -175 on the money line this Monday night and -190 for the series.
It’s a matchup of the Pacific Division’s No. 2 (Edmonton) and No. 3 (Los Angeles) seeds from the regular season, where Edmonton finished with 104 points to Los Angeles’ 99. Last year, the Oilers won the series in six games after winning in seven games in the 2021-2022 postseason.
Early in the season, it seemed as if the Kings were going to contend with the Vancouver Canucks for the Pacific Division title.
However, an eight-game losing streak in December and January flipped Los Angeles’ season on its head and, from December 27th to January 31st, they only won two games. At that point, it was looking unlikely that the Kings would even get back into the playoff picture.
They made it partly due to teams like the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild falling off. Still, that rough stretch tanked the Kings’ Stanley Cup odds.
Edmonton was able to rebound from a dreadful 2-9-1 start that cost the job of coach Jay Woodcroft but replacement Kris Knoblauch — and steady play in goal from Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard stabilized things. It also helps to have Zach Hyman exploding for a career-high 54 goals, Connor McDavid posting 100 assists and Leon Draisaitl notching 106 points. This team is dynamic.
Kings vs Oilers 
Records: Los Angeles Kings (44-27-11), Edmonton Oilers (49-27-6)
Day/Time:
Location: Rogers Place; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Stream: ESPN2
Kings Need Huge Performances From Talbot
On the other hand, the Kings’ leading scorer was Adrian Kempe who had 75 points. He, Kevin Fiala, and the ageless Anze Kopitar were the only Kings were 70+ points. So, it’s pretty obvious that Los Angeles won’t be able to score with the Edmonton Oilers.
Their hope in this series is that they continue to get the elite goaltending that veterans Cam Talbot (as well as backup David Rittich) have provided the Kings with all season. Talbot had a .913 save percentage while Rittich had a .921 save percentage.
Talbot figures to get the lion’s share of minutes in this series and he’ll have to play as well as he has all year. The Kings vs Oilers odds have Edmonton favored and +155 on the puck line because Edmonton is just so lethal, particularly on the power play (PP).
Between McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers have two of the best playmakers in hockey and Hyman has turned into a very good goal-scorer.
If the Kings get into a high-scoring goalfest with the Oilers, then the NHL scores for this series could be very lopsided in favor of Edmonton. No one can score with the Oilers. The hope for Los Angeles is that they can slow the game down, prevent Edmonton from getting odd-man rushes, and keep the Oilers away from the net.
Oilers Have To Convert On Power Play
It’s not a surprise that a team with so much offensive talent is unreal on the power play. That’s why it’s a major key for the Oilers to not only draw a lot of penalties but also to take advantage of those man-advantage opportunities.
NHL teams as a whole convert on nearly 21% of their PP chances while the Oilers score over 26% of the time when they are up one or two players. No wonder the Kings vs Oilers odds not only have the goals total pegged at six — consider going with the over at +105 — but have the Oilers as sizable favorites.
Once the Oilers can consistently play with the open ice afforded to them on the power play, then the Kings would, for lack of a better term, be screwed.
It doesn’t matter how well your goalies are playing if McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, and even Evan Bouchard get enough opportunities with a man advantage. Those four guys combined for a ridiculous 51 power-play goals this season. The Kings — as a team — scored 56 PP goals all year.
The NHL final standings might have wound up being pretty close between these two teams but there is a sizable skill and talent gap between them. To be fair, Los Angeles is much better defensively than Edmonton and has a great penalty kill (84.5% efficiency compared to the league-average 79%).
However, there’s a reason why the Oilers have bested the Kings in each of the last two postseasons. Also, while the Kings are well-accustomed to how the Kings play as a division rival, the Oilers are adept at making even the best defenses and opposing special teams look silly.
Oilers Are A Safer Pick
For Game 1 at least, go with Edmonton on the puck line for some value. This is an incredibly explosive team that may have solved its long-term problem in net.
The lack of reliable goaltending has doomed the Oilers year in and year out during the McDavid years and with the emergence of Skinner, Edmonton has looked like a completely different team.
The Kings won’t be able to match up and if you like the Oilers to win, you might as well go on the puckline because they should be able to light the lamp often.
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