May 4, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings treated us to a captivating and riveting first round series. The Kings put up a great fight, but the Oilers took down the Kings in the first round for the fourth straight season.

Five-on-Five

The Kings were statistically the best five-on-five team in the league in the regular season, but the Oilers were able to outscore the Kings in that area throughout the series. Not only that, but the Oilers held a 60.6% expected goals percentage. The goal tally only favouring the Oilers by one isn’t actually indicative of how well the Oilers played five-on-five in this series. High danger chances were 79-47 (62.7%) in favour of the Oilers.

Game 2 was the only game of the series where the Kings had a higher xGF% than the Oilers. The third period and the overtime periods in Game 4 and the entirety of Game 5 is where the Oilers really separated themselves from the Kings five-on-five. Game 5 was absolutely dominated by the Oilers even though the score was only 3-1. The five-on-five metrics would have been closer if not for those two games, but the Oilers still had the upper hand in this area of the game throughout the series.

Special Teams

The Kings powerplay got off to a blistering start in the series by going 7/12 through the first three games. That was a big reason the Kings won the first two games and got out to a lead in Game 3. They finished at 8/20 (40%) in the series, which was higher than the Oilers 5/13 (38.46%).

Related: How the Kings powerplay is roasting the Oilers

The reason that I said the special teams battle was even in the series even though the Kings had more powerplay goals and a higher powerplay percentage than the Oilers is because the Oilers got timely goals from their powerplay throughout the series.

Evan Bouchard got two powerplay goals in Game 3. The first one put the Oilers up 2-0 in the first period, but the second one was the game winner just ten seconds after the Kings’ lost the challenge on Evander Kane’s game-tying goal.

Corey Perry got the 2-1 goal on the powerplay in Game 4. Closing the gap just that little bit was vital because the game wouldn’t have gone to overtime otherwise. Leon Draisaitl ended that game with his first career playoff overtime winner, which was a powerplay goal.

Finally, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the 2-2 goal in Game 6 on the powerplay. That was a huge goal that prevented the Kings from settling in and playing with a lead because it came just 2:45 after they had re-taken the lead in the first period.

They didn’t get nearly as many opportunities, and they didn’t score as many goals; but the Oilers powerplay was vital to their series win. Their penalty kill also managed to stop the bleeding. They allowed seven powerplay goals in the first three games, and just one in the last three games.

Goaltending

Darcy Kuemper was nominated for the Vezina Trophy this season because of his stellar play that was only topped by Hart Trophy nominee Connor Hellebuyck. The Oilers found a way to get to Kuemper though. His save percentage dipped to .888 in the six-game series against the Oilers, and that includes a heroic Game 5 performance where he stopped 43 of the 45 shots the Oilers peppered him with.

The Kings chased Stuart Skinner from the series in the third period of Game 2 after he had given up eleven goals in two games. Calvin Pickard took the reins from there and won four straight games for the Oilers. He was incredible in the dramatic Game 4 overtime win (38/41, .927), and he was solid while stopping 21/22 shots in Game 5. The numbers are less flattering for Game 6, but he got the job done with some big saves in the third period. Nonetheless, Pickard’s .876 save percentage was still lower than Kuemper’s .888 in the series, so I still have to give the Kings the edge in goal even though the Oilers won the series.

Callouts

The Oilers allowed the first goal in five of the six games in the series. Of those five games, Game 5 was the only one where the Kings didn’t get out to a multi-goal lead before the Oilers could score. They will need to have better starts going forward in the playoffs.

The Evan Bouchard Experience was on full display in round one. He had so many brilliant and timely offensive plays, but he made many appearances in my Callouts sections due to defensive lapses. If he can clean it up a bit, the Oilers should be fine.

Standouts

Prior to the series, I said that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl would need equivalent or superior offensive production to their average of seventeen combined points every six games against the Kings in the previous three iterations of this series if the Oilers were to prevail. McDavid finished tied for second in the league with eleven points in round one, and Draisaitl was right behind him with ten points of his own. They had 21 points combined, and the Oilers won the series. The team got contributions from depth players as well, but McDavid and Draisaitl truly led the way offensively.

Shoutouts

There are a lot of players that are deserving of shoutouts in round one. Evan Bouchard had some truly magical moments, like Games 3 and 4 where he scored four goals and played a key role in both comeback wins.

Pickard got tossed into the series in the third period of a 5-2 game in Game 2, and he allowed a goal on three shots. Then he took the net and won the team four straight games, including his first career playoff overtime win.

Connor Brown tied for fourth on the team with five points in six games, which is a crazy hot streak for him. He stepped up in last year’s playoffs, and he stepped up again in round one this year.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman each had five points in the series as well. Nugent-Hopkins provided steady play on the second line, which allowed the Oilers to comfortably stack McDavid and Draisaitl on the same line for much of the series. Hyman scored a couple of big goals, but he piled up 43 hits in the first round, which was second in the league.

Vasily Podkolzin was tenth in the league with 29 hits in round one. He also put up four assists in the six games. He was rewarded for his determined and relentless style with some offensive production.

Finally, Evander Kane returned to the lineup after missing the entire regular season and Game 1. He was quite effective. He got two goals and an assist, and he was the physical and frustrating opponent that he usually is. While I wouldn’t say that he’s in peak form yet, he was good. He’s been a great fit with Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman on the second line.

Wrap

We thought the Oilers vs Kings matchup was tired, but it turns out that it was wired. That series was absolutely electric from start to finish! Momentum swung in the blink of an eye multiple times. No lead was truly safe for either team. The Oilers tied Game 1 late after trailing 4-0, but the Kings scored a fluky goal in the last minute to win it. Game 2 was a 6-2 Kings win where they led 2-0, but the Oilers made it 3-2 late in the second period. The Oilers had a 2-0 lead in Game 3, but they had to come back in the third period after trailing by one at the second intermission. They completed a three-goal comeback with an overtime winner at home in Game 4. Game 5 was just tense from the drop of the puck. Game 6 saw the teams exchange goals twice in the first six minutes! The Oilers became the first team to score two game-tying goals in the first six minutes of a playoff game. The Oilers still needed an empty netter in the final seconds to fend off the Kings. It was a wild ride!

Most analysts had the Kings finally taking down the Oilers this year, including myself. The Kings had improved offensively and defensively, and they got Vezina-calibre goaltending. Meanwhile, the Oilers had taken a step back in the regular season and they limped into the playoffs with several injuries to major players.

Games 1 and 2 played out in the Kings’ favour, but the Oilers found their game. It took some time for them to find chemistry because they had some new players enter the fold and the team had so many injuries that prevented everyone from playing together down the stretch, but they found it.

Kings head coach Jim Hiller challenged Kane’s game-tying goal for goalie interference in Game 3. I personally didn’t see anything that would be considered goalie interference on the play, but their staff saw something that made them confident enough to challenge. They ended up failing the challenge and giving the Oilers a powerplay. It took them all of ten seconds to take the lead on that powerplay and to steal the momentum in the series for good. The Kings had pushes in Games 4, 5, and 6; but they couldn’t stop the Oilers after that challenge.

Ultimately, the Oilers won four games in a row to take down the Kings for the fourth consecutive season. This was the best version of the Kings that the Oilers have seen in the last four years, but they still couldn’t find a way to take down the Oilers.

The Oilers will now face the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round. That series gets underway on Tuesday night.