Some Los Angeles Kings have come into the season with something to prove and the team has gotten off to a 1-0-1 start. It’s not undefeated like some teams still are, but at least it’s not an 0-3-0 start like their division rivals, the Edmonton Oilers.
It is a long season and after some changes and an untimely injury to Drew Doughty, the Kings’ first focus is on making it to the playoffs. The Western Conference playoff picture wasn’t an easy task to squeeze into last season.
When it comes to the Oilers, the Kings have been knocked out of the first round by them in three consecutive seasons, each year in fewer games than the prior one. It didn’t matter how either of the teams started last season, there’s 82 games to sort things out before playoffs and it has been a week.
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Any team can go on a three game losing streak, it just happens that the Oilers don’t start the season on time and it is amplified. The Kings started 0-1-1 last season, but then proceeded to turn things around and at a record of 16-4-3 after 23 games. It took the Oilers a little bit longer after 10 losses in the first 12 games, but then had 29 wins through 45 games.
The Kings had their ups and down through last season on the way to finishing third in their division after 82 games. It got to a point where former head coach Todd McLellan got fired, so that’s what the Kings and Oilers had in common last season.
Overall, the Kings might not be in as good of a place as the Oilers are due to the talent on both teams and the ability to go deep into the playoffs, but anything can happen with any team that makes the postseason. The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 from the eighth seed.
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Seeing as the playoff format encourages divisional matchups, the Kings and Oilers are likely going to match up in the first or second round every year both get in. Even with the teams LA and Edmonton have had over the years, the Oilers haven’t won their division since 1986-87 and the Kings have only won their division once, in 1990-91. The Oilers have finished second in five consecutive seasons, so if the Kings make the playoffs, it’s either play a division winner with more points than Edmonton, or face the Oilers.
It may not be the same song and dance the Kings and Oilers have had the last three seasons, but the Oilers will turn it around and Los Angeles has no easy path to a deep playoff run or success with them around.
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