It may not even be April yet but this is going to be one of the most important games the Edmonton Oilers will be playing down the stretch. With the Oilers only 3 points up on the Los Angeles Kings, there is no room for errors in tonight's game if they want to secure home ice in the first round.
This game should have a playoff feel as it is a preview of a likely first-round matchup. While the Oilers are 8 points behind Vancouver Canucks, the Kings are up one point on Vegas, but with a game in hand, the Pacific Division is fairly locked up unless a team collapses. With the standings tight between the Kings and Oilers, they can still flip positions with the team ahead getting home ice in the first round.
Projected Los Angeles Kings Lineup
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Arvidsson – Dubois – Laferriere
Kaliyev – Lizotte – Lewis
(Grundstrom)
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Moverare
Rittich / Talbot
Projected Edmonton Oilers Lineup
Oilers projected lineup vs. LA:
— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) March 28, 2024
RNH - McDavid - Hyman
Henrique - Draisaitl - Foegele
Kane - McLeod - Perry
Janmark - Ryan - Brown
Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Desharnais
Skinner#Oilers
While the Oilers are coming off an overtime win against the Jets earlier this week the Los Angeles Kings are winners of 4 in a row and are 7-3-0 in their last 10 while the Oilers are only 5-3-2. Lately, the Kings have been the better team, the Oilers have struggled with consistency within games lately, having given up two-goal leads in the last two games.
On paper the Edmonton Oilers have the stronger team, no one on the Kings can match the skill of either Draisaitl or McDavid, but the Kings do have solid defensive-minded players and they play a stingy game. The type of game that if successful will make for a boring watch, but the Oilers have proven in the past they can beat that style and win games against the Kings.
I believe that if the Oilers play the full 60 minutes and can limit their mistakes, this should be an easy win for them. Unfortunately, as of late they have not been able to do this. In a game with so much on the line hopefully, they can pull it together as a team and get the two points.