The Los Angeles Kings will face the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round of the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
The Oilers have won the three previous meetings and had home-ice advantage in each series.
On Monday night, in a regular-season game, the Kings (46-24-9, 101 points) can clinch second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage with a victory over host Edmonton. With three games remaining, Los Angeles has a two-point lead over the Oilers, who have two games left.
“We want to play (at home),” Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “We want to play in front of our fans. They’ve been great to us all season, and obviously we’ve done well (at home). And I think it’s just time to … flip the script.”
The Kings, who have the league’s best home record (31-5-4), will kick off a two-game road trip after claiming a 5-4 home win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
Quinton Byfield opened the scoring for a third consecutive game in a three-point game. Alex Laferriere had a career-best three-point outing, and Kevin Fiala set a career high with his team-leading 34th goal of the campaign.
The three players have made up one of the league’s best lines over the past few weeks.
“We’ve kind of built a lot of chemistry over the past couple months, and I think it’s really starting to show,” Laferriere said. “And I think people talk a lot about getting hot at the right time, and obviously we want to contribute in the playoffs.”
The Oilers will return home after a 4-1 victory at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday and are riding a three-game winning streak.
Edmonton (47-28-5, 99 points) faced a Winnipeg squad that earlier in the day had clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as regular-season champion and opted to sit out No.-1 goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, top defenseman Josh Morrissey and captain Adam Lowry. But the circumstances did not diminish the Oilers’ performance.
“When we get our full lineup, we’re such a deep club to help a little bit the best two players in the world. I think the sense of belief in this group is very high,” Oilers forward Connor Brown said. “A couple more games here before the dance, and so (we’ll) keep our habits up and keep going.”
Edmonton captain Connor McDavid continued his torrid pace, as he has collected nine assists in three outings since missing eight games due to injury. McDavid has 99 points this season and has notched 28 points (four goals, 24 assists) in a 16-game point streak that was interrupted by his lower-body injury.
The good news for Edmonton does not end there, even with leading goal scorer and point producer Leon Draisaitl sidelined due to injury.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner returned after missing the previous eight games with a head injury, and veteran Corey Perry collected one goal and one assist, giving him 18 goals and 29 points for the season.
–Field Level Media
“It’s been tremendous to have that scoring from typically a fourth line on our team, playing at most 10 to 13 minutes,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Lately, these last couple weeks because of the injuries, (Perry’s) role has gone up, he’s played more minutes. But for somebody in that situation to get (close) to 20 goals and not be on the first unit power play, or very little this year, that’s a remarkable year.”
–Field Level Media
