The Oilers vs Kings Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Is Setting Up To Be A Massive Shit Show With Guys Already Cross-Checking Each Other's Faces Into The Ice
For the fourth season in a row, we are getting treated to an Oilers vs Kings matchup in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Oilers have won the previous 3 series. They won in 7 games in 2022, 6 games in 2023, and 5 games in 2024. You'd imagine the trend would say the Oilers will then go on to sweep the Kings this year, but the script has flipped a bit here. In the previous 3 seasons, the Oilers were the 2nd place team in the Pacific Division so they had home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
But now the Kings have home ice to start this series, and they just beat the bags off the Oilers 5-0 to give them something to thing about before the playoffs get going. There's a strong chance the first few games of this matchup don't even look like hockey. It's just going to be a bunch of guys literally trying to kill each other out on the ice for 7 straight games.
This was while the Oilers were already down 4-0 in the game. Byfield had scored his 23rd goal of the season earlier in the 1st period. What better way to make sure Edmonton even has a chicken dick's chance in this series than for Darnell Nurse to try to decapitate Byfield before the playoffs get going.
Clearly Edmonton needs to do something here. They've lost 3 out of the 4 games they played against LA this year. The past 2 games have both been thumpings. 3-0 last week and 5-0 last night. You've got the Oilers trying to bounce back from losing in the Cup Final last year, and a Kings team that hates the shit out of Edmonton for knocking them out in the first round in each of the last 3 years. We're not just on a shit show watch for this series. This is a full out shit show warning.