Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings: 2024 Stanley Cup playoff series preview and pick

It’s Groundhog Day … again. This will be the third consecutive year in which the Oilers and Kings have met in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. L.A. has proven to be a worthy opponent for the Oilers over the last two seasons, using their 1-3-1 defensive system to smother the overwhelming offense players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can create. But in the end, the Oilers’ stars have always managed to break through the Kings’ defensive fortifications.

When McDavid wasn’t in the Oilers’ lineup this year, they looked like an entirely different team. They were nearly run out of the building by the Colorado Avalanche in their regular season finale on Thursday. McDavid has become a better leader and a stronger two-way player over the years while retaining all of his offensive capabilities. As long as the Oilers have him at their disposal, they’ll be a tough out.

The key member of this Kings offense is Kevin Fiala, who has put together two sublime seasons after arriving in L.A. from the Minnesota Wild in the 2022 offseason. Fiala is a terrific scorer who has also driven play to a great extent while being slotted into a variety of different line combos this season .

Edmonton’s defensive group is led by the pairing of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, which has been a puck-possession dynamo all season long. Bouchard is a skilled, slick offensive defenseman who has been a fixture on the Oilers’ top power-play unit since Tyson Barrie’s departure last season. Coincidentally, the Oilers sent Barrie to the Nashville Predators as part of a package to acquire Ekholm, who has arguably been the team’s No. 1 defenseman ever since.

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