The Kings were last seen completing a triumphant 4-0-2 road trip with a Feb. 2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, with only the scheduled Olympic break disrupting their roll.
They’ll return to the ice on Tuesday, hosting the star-studded but perpetually flummoxed Edmonton Oilers at Crypto.com Arena.
Although entering the season Edmonton had so-called experts predicting grandeur, the Kings will enter this matchup in a playoff position while the Oilers remain on the outside looking in, having fired coach Dave Tippett last week.
The Kings, meanwhile, are enjoying their most successful season in at least four years after missing the postseason by a mile in each of their past three campaigns, including two under current coach Todd McLellan. This season, they’ll be playing games of real consequence and high stakes down the stretch.
“Last year was such a messed-up season, so you can’t really go off of that, and the first year our organization was in tear-down mode, really, at this time of the year,” McLellan said. “Now, we’ve done that, we’ve put together a lineup, we’re starting to grow our team, coaches are in place, structure is in place, players understand and we have an identity.”
The Oilers, on the other hand, should be an established commodity, but cannot seem to make linear progress.
They came within a game of the conference finals in 2017, prodigious center Connor McDavid’s first full campaign, only to miss the playoffs for two straight years. A flameout in 2020’s play-in tournament against the bottom-seeded Chicago Blackhawks and a sweep at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets in last year’s first round followed.
All of that came with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl manning the controls. They have each won the NHL’s scoring title and Most Valuable Player trophy at least once.
McDavid ranks third in scoring this year and Draisaitl leads the league, but that didn’t prevent them from turning in an extended dismal stretch.
In the final 23 games of Tippett’s tenure, Edmonton won just five times in regulation, including two losses immediately before his dismissal by an 8-1 aggregate score. Edmonton owns the league’s second-most efficient power play, but a negative goal differential, something that no team currently in playoff position has.
Though they won interim coach Jay Woodcroft’s debut on Friday, the Oilers have plenty of work ahead to realize their potential as contenders.
The Kings, on the other hand, are situated somewhat comfortably for a change. They have 35 games remaining, of which nearly half (17) will be played inside the Pacific Division after competing in just nine intra-divisional games during their first 47 contests. That includes three meetings with the Oilers, whom the Kings beat 5-1 in Edmonton on Dec. 5.
The Kings will play 16 games at home and 19 on the road. They also have 17 games left before the March 21 trade deadline to evaluate their roster and react accordingly.
One already-present player who could provide a boost down the stretch, much as fellow rookies Sean Durzi and Arthur Kaliyev have to varying extents, is center Quinton Byfield. In seven games this season, he has one goal, but long-term expectations are high for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 entry draft.
“I think there’s offense there, I think there’s a point-producing player, but for us to just evaluate him on that would be a mistake,” McLellan said. “We don’t do that with (Kaliyev) … and we won’t do that with Quinton. But I do think there’s a player there that eventually will create a lot of offense.”
Edmonton at Kings
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Bally Sports West/iHeartRadio