Fiala, Vilardi out for Los Angeles; Edmonton brings record-setting power play to postseason
(P2) Edmonton Oilers at (P3) Los Angeles Kings
10 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSW
Game 1 of best-of-7 series
The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings face off in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Last season, the Oilers came back from down 3-2 to win the series in seven games. Connor McDavid had a combined five points (two goals, three assists) in Games 6 and 7.
McDavid, the Oilers captain, had the best offensive season by an NHL player in 27 years with 153 points (64 goals, 89 assists). Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins had 161 points (69 goals, 92 assists) in 1995-96.
The Kings will have their hands full trying to contain the most dynamic player in the NHL. Defenseman Drew Doughty will play after missing the series last season with a wrist injury.
"It's exciting, I love the moment, I love the challenge, everybody knows how good he is and how hard he is to shut down," Doughty said. "But I'm going to do the best of my ability with my partner, Mikey (Anderson), and whatever forward line is out there. We're going to do our best to keep him off the score sheet as much as we can. Shutting him down will be a key to this series."
The Kings will be without forwards Kevin Fiala (72 points; 23 goals, 49 assists) and Gabriel Vilardi (41 points; 23 goals, 18 assists) for Game 1. Fiala missed the final six games of the regular season with a lower-body injury, Vilardi the final nine with an upper-body injury.
The Oilers and Kings split the season series (2-2-0). Edmonton won the final two games, 2-0 at Rogers Place on March 30, and 3-1 at Crypto.com Arena on April 4.
Despite being the highest-scoring team in the NHL (325 goals), the Oilers are confident they can play a strong defensive game against the Kings.
"I think over the last couple of months, we've really developed that about our game," forward Leon Draisaitl said. "We've won any type of game you can think of, and I think that's a big confidence factor within our group. I think we're all excited for tonight and it should be a good series."
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:
1. Stay out of the penalty box
Both teams are expected to ramp up the physicality, but neither want to cross the line and spend extended time in the penalty box. The Oilers had the best power-play in NHL history (32.4 percent), surpassing the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens (31.9 percent). Draisaitl (128 points; 52 goals, 76 assists), scored an NHL-best 32 power-play goals and McDavid had 21. The Kings were fourth on the man-advantage (25.3 percent). Adrian Kempe (67 points; 41 goals, 26 assists) scored 11 power-play goals and Viktor Arvidsson (59 points; 26 goals, 33 assists) had 10.
"Both coaches are going to walk into their locker room and ask their players to play hard, it's playoff hockey and that's what you do at this time of year," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "But I don't think either team wants to make a steady march to the penalty box. I know our team doesn't. You're going to have to be smart with your play, play hard between the whistles, get out of the [garbage] and move on."
2. New goalies
Last season, goalie Mike Smith started for the Oilers and Jonathan Quick for the Kings. Both are gone. Edmonton rookie Stuart Skinner will make his first playoff start after earning the No. 1 job. The 24-year-old was 29-14-5 with a 2.75 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and one shutout.
"With his demeanor, he seems so much older than he actually is," Draisaitl said. "There are going to be some nerves and that's normal. We're all going to have nerves, but I think he's been in these situations all his life. He's played in big-time games, and really if you think about it, it's just another game. It's going to be a little louder, maybe, but that's all it really is. He's going to be great for us."
Joonas Korpisalo will start for the Kings. He was acquired with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 1 and down the stretch was 7-3-1 with a 2.13 GAA, .921 save percentage and one shutout in 11 starts.
"Our quality of improvement came in goal, with all due respect to 'Quicky,' who was a Hall-of-Fame player for us," McLellan said. "We feel like we've improved in that area."
3. Scoring first
The team who scored first in the four games this season was victorious.
Getting out in front will be a key in Game 1. Though the Oilers had 22 come-from-behind wins this season, falling behind to the Kings presented too big a challenge to overcome. The Kings are a strong defensive team who do not give opponents much room to operate. They clog up the neutral zone as well as any team in the NHL. If Oilers score first, they could draw the Kings out of their shell. That would give them opportunities in transition, where McDavid and Draisaitl are so effective.
The Oilers were 32-8-4 when scoring first. The Kings were 32-6-3.
"It always feels good to score to first, but I don't think it's the end of the world if we don't score first," Los Angeles captain Anze Kopitar said. "We've won games where we didn't score first and I'm sure they have too. It's about going out and executing your game plan and being disciplined."
Kings projected lineup
Quinton Byfield -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore -- Phillip Danault -- Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Iafallo -- Blake Lizotte -- Arthur Kaliyev
Carl Grundstrom -- Rasmus Kupari -- Zack MacEwen
Mikey Anderson -- Drew Doughty
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Matt Roy
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched: Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Alex Laferriere, Sean Walker
Injured: Kevin Fiala (lower body), Gabriel Vilardi (upper body)
Oilers projected lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Zach Hyman
Evander Kane -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto
Klim Kostin -- Nick Bjugstad -- Mattias Janmark
Warren Foegele -- Ryan McLeod -- Derek Ryan
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak -- Vincent Desharnais
Stuart Skinner
Scratched: Devin Shore, Philip Broberg
Injured: Ryan Murray (back)
Status report
McLellan would not say if Fiala and Vilardi made the trip to Edmonton for the first two games of the series. ... Edler could play after missing the final five games of the regular season with an upper-body injury. ... The Oilers are expected to play 12 forwards and six defensemen. They have played 11 forwards and seven defensemen for a large part of the season to open more ice time for McDavid and Draisaitl.
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