A late-February matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings usually serves as a preview of the annual snooze-fest the two teams play in the first round of the playoffs in the spring.

That might not be the case this year.

As it stands, the Kings sit outside the playoff picture, three points back of the Seattle Kraken for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. The Oilers, meanwhile, appear headed toward a potential high-scoring first-round clash with the upstart Anaheim Ducks.

Even if this isn’t a playoff preview, it’s a meeting between two teams desperate for a win.

1. Both Edmonton and Los Angeles are currently mired in four-game losing streaks that began before the Olympic break. While the trouble for Edmonton during their funk has been keeping the puck out of the net, the primary issue for the Kings has been their limp offence.

Los Angeles ranks 30th in the league with 146 goals scored, ahead of only New Jersey and Calgary. Just six times in 57 games have the Kings scored more than four goals, and they’re a perfect 6-0 in games where they’ve hit five or six. When the offence shows up, they win. When it doesn’t, they struggle to manufacture chances.

2. Former Oilers general manager Ken Holland made his biggest swing since taking the gig in L.A. last spring in an attempt to pump some life into the team’s offence. Shortly before the Olympic break, the Kings acquired winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers and signed him to a two-year contract extension worth $11 million annually, taking one of this summer’s top free agents off the board well before July 1.

Through parts of 11 seasons in the NHL, the former Calder Trophy winner has scored 321 goals and 929 points in 805 regular-season games between Chicago, Columbus, New York, and now Los Angeles. The 34-year-old had 57 points in 52 games on a struggling Rangers squad, and he picked up two assists in his debut with the Kings on Wednesday, a 6-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

3. The Panarin addition became even more critical when Kevin Fiala suffered a season-ending injury while representing Switzerland at the Olympics. Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with 21 goals and 48 points, while Fiala sits second with 18 goals and 40 points.

Panarin debuted on the top line alongside Laferriere at centre and Kempe on the right, while also running the point on the top power play unit. How quickly that chemistry develops could determine whether the Kings can stay in the playoff hunt.

4. As has been the case in the past few years, the strength of the Kings has been keeping the puck out of their own net. After finishing third and second in goals against last season and the season before, L.A. currently sits sixth in the league with 161 goals against.

It’s a familiar-but-different version of the blueline the Oilers have seen from the Kings now that Holland is in the fold. Drew Doughty is lining up alongside Brian Dumoulin on the top pairing, Joel Edmundson plays with young puck-mover Brand Clarke, and former Oiler Cody Ceci logs heavy defensive zone minutes with Mikey Anderson.

Starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper has a 14-11-9 record and a .900 save percentage in 36 games for the Kings this year. He’ll get the nod on Thursday against the Oilers after backup Anton Forsberg started against Vegas the previous night.

5. After their 6-5 loss to the Ducks on Wednesday, which saw the team blow three different leads, the Oilers are third in the Pacific Division with a 28-23-8 record. During this four-game losing skid, Edmonton has allowed 22 goals.

Tristan Jarry started for the Oilers in Anaheim and was pulled in the third period after allowing five goals on 25 shots. In 12 games since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, he’s 6-4-1 with a .863 save percentage.

In spite of that rough showing from Jarry, it was actually Connor Ingram who took the loss against the Ducks, as he entered with the score tied 5-5 and allowed the game-winning goal with just over a minute left on the clock. Ingram is 6-5-1 with a .895 save percentage in 14 games for the Oilers.

6. This is the second of three meetings between the Oilers and Kings this season. Los Angeles picked up a road win over Edmonton back in January, rallying from a couple of different deficits before winning the game in the shootout.

With a win, the Kings can clinch their second consecutive regular-season series victory over Edmonton. The third and final regular-season meeting will be in L.A. in April.

Last season, the Kings beat the Oilers in three of four regular-season meetings. L.A. took a 2-0 lead in the playoffs, then Edmonton finished off the series by rattling off four wins in a row.