Edmonton Oilers Potential Playoff Opponents: LA Kings
By Phil Gretzky
Goaltenders
Between the pipes it’s the same story, although to be fair this is where the two teams might be closest.
For the Kings they have relic Jonathan Quick, who at this point is now no more than an average goalie with a .908 sv% and 2.67 GAA. To be fair, that’s the best numbers he’s put up in four seasons, but that’s not exactly a high barometer.
His partner is Cal Peterson, who has only 89 NHL games to his name and whose sv% has declined every year in the league, to the point where he’s now at his career low of .899 – just below the mark of an average NHL goalie. I suspect Quick will play the playoffs for the Kings, but if he gets injured the Kings will be in trouble as Peterson has never played a single playoff game in his career so far.
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You might ask how the Edmonton Oilers can counter with two average goalies in Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen, both of whom have similar numbers on the season and neither of whom have a GAA below 3.0.
Well, the truth is both goalies have become hot as of late. Koskinen has only lost once in his last seven starts at the time of this writing, and ditto for Smith.
Koskinen doesn’t have much of a track record in the playoffs but Smith has a .931 sv% in 29 career playoff starts. Nonetheless, don’t be surprised if Smith and Koskinen still tandem throughout the playoffs. Why not use both goalies in tandem if both are hot, at least in the first round?
Quick, meanwhile, has won six of his last nine starts but in the three losses has given up five, three, and three goals. I don’t envy Kings head coach Todd McLellan the question of who to start in the playoffs because it sure seems like a case of pick your poison. Woodcroft, on the other hand, has a much more pleasant decision to make, one that doesn’t seem to have a wrong answer.
Edge goes to the Oilers between the pipes too.
The Bottom Line
If the Kings do end up winning – It’s because they’ll have gotten healthy and have somehow been able to stymie the firepower of the Oilers forwards and d corps
If the Edmonton Oilers do end up winning – As expected, it’s because they’re the hotter team going into the playoffs and are getting contributions from up and down the roster and Smith and Koskinen continue their hot play in net
My pick for who would win this series – Edmonton Oilers