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Flashback Friday: Looking back at the Oilers-Kings 2025 first round series
Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid Los Angeles Kings Darcy Kuemper
Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Apr 10, 2026, 20:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 10, 2026, 20:26 EDT
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It’s only a matter of time before the Edmonton Oilers punch their ticket to the 2026 playoffs.
With just three games left in the season, all the Oilers need to do this Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings is earn a point. If they fail to do that, which wouldn’t be great for their chances to win their first division title in 40 seasons, a Jets win in overtime, or a loss of any kind will also clinch a postseason berth for the Oilers. It’ll be the seventh consecutive year they’ve made the postseason.
It’s anyone’s best guess who the Oilers will play, though. The Vegas Golden Knights are a possibility, which would be the third series between the two teams since the 2023 playoffs. Both the Knights and Anaheim Ducks trail the Oilers by one point, which means that the Ducks are also a possibility.
If the season were to end today, the Oilers would have a first-round matchup against the Utah Mammoth, the first series between the two franchises since the original Jets back in 1990. Technically, the Mammoth are an expansion franchise, but they’re basically a relocated Arizona Coyotes with an arena.
There is also a remote chance the Oilers play the Sharks, which would be the third series between the teams. However, that’d take an incredible series of events, with either the Ducks or Knights losing out and the Sharks winning all four of their remaining games in regulation. Of course, it’s also possible that the Oilers and Kings meet up for the fifth consecutive postseason.
While it’s not as improbable as the scenario that the Oilers play the Sharks, it’s more than likely not going to happen. With 85 points, the Kings have just four games remaining, meaning a maximum of 93 points. If they win all four games, one of the Ducks or Knights finish ahead of the Oilers, and one of the Ducks or Knights finish in the wild card spot, that scenario would be the Oilers against the Kings for the fifth season. So yeah, that probably won’t happen.
That said, in this edition of Flashback Friday, we’ll look at the first round matchup between the Kings and the Oilers in 2025.

Setup

On Feb. 5, 2025, the Oilers had a 34-16-4 record, first in the Pacific Division by four points. They lost their final game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, then lost their next four games. Then injuries started to occur. They lost Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid in consecutive games in late March. 
On March 22nd against the Seattle Kraken, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins served as their first line centre, with Adam Henrique as their second line centre. The Oilers also lost Mattias Ekholm in late March, with him taking a two-minute shift shortly before the end of the season.
Over their last 28 games, the Oilers were just 14-13-1, limping into the postseason with a record of 48-29-5, good enough for third in the Pacific Division. Of course, the Kings sat in second thanks to 105 points, including a 31-6-4 record at home.
That set up the Oilers against the Kings in the first round for the fourth consecutive year.

Game 1

A big reason why the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Finals in 2024 was thanks to an impressive penalty kill. That wasn’t the case in this first-round match. Receiving a power play early in Game 1, the Kings opened the scoring about three minutes into the game. With 33 seconds left in the first, Quinton Byfield added a second.
Then, with just over five minutes left in the second period, Adrian Kempe extended the Kings’ lead to three, followed by a goal from Phillip Danault three minutes later, making it 4-0. With six seconds left in the second, Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the board.
Just over two minutes into the third period, Mattias Janmark scored his first of the postseason to get the Oilers to within two, but that was short-lived as Kevin Fiala scored on the power play, 5-2 Kings.
The Oilers then mounted a comeback as Connor McDavid took over. About eight minutes into the first, Corey Perry scored to make it 5-3. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, McDavid picked up his third assist on Zach Hyman’s first goal of the postseason, then scored 30 seconds later on a brilliant individual effort.
It went to overtime, right? No. In the final minute of regulation, Danault’s shot fluttered on Stuart Skinner, beating the netminder to give the Kings a 6-5 lead and the Game 1 victory.

Game 2

It was the same problem for the Oilers in Game 2. The Kings opened the scoring thanks to a Brandt Clarke power play goal. Just over four minutes into the second, Byfield scored his second of the series for a 2-0 lead, then Andrei Kuzmenko scored his second power play goal midway through the second for a 3-0 lead.
Draisaitl scored his second of the series with six minutes left in the second period, and Viktor Arvidsson gave the Oilers life with a goal four minutes into the third. Then, the Kings took over, as Kempe answered less than three minutes later. Anže Kopitar scored a power play goal to make it 5-2 midway through the third, then Kempe added another one to make it 6-2.
This 6-2 loss put the Oilers in a 2-0 series hole early. The thing is, other than an all-time performance by McDavid, these games weren’t close either, as quite a handful of Oilers were working their way back from injuries.

Game 3

Game 3 saw the two teams travel to Edmonton. For the first time in the series, the Oilers scored first as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found twine to make it 1-0 early in the first. Evan Bouchard scored a power play goal nine minutes into the period, but then the Kings woke up.
With just over two minutes left in the first, Kempe scored his fourth of the series to cut the Oilers’ lead in half. The Oilers allowed two power play goals in the second period, one from Fiala and the other from Drew Doughty, giving the Kings a 3-2 lead. Connor Brown scored with just under three minutes left in the second, but Trevor Moore restored their lead just nine seconds later, a back breaker.
In last week’s Flashback Friday, we looked at a handful of turning points in the two series between the Knights and the Oilers. With just under seven minutes left in Game 3, the first turning point of this series happened.
A scramble in front of the net saw Evander Kane make contact with the Kings’ netminder, before Kane batted it home. The Kings decided to challenge the goal for goalie interference, but it stood, sending the Oilers to the power play.
Off the opening faceoff on the power play, Bouchard got the zone, dropped it back to Draisaitl, and drove to the net. The Kings defence just let him walk through, with Bouchard tapping in the pass to give the Oilers the lead.
They never relinquished that lead, as McDavid gave the Oilers an insurance goal thanks to an empty netter with 100 seconds left. For good measure, Brown scored an empty netter in the 7-4 win, cutting the Kings’ series lead to one.

Game 4

As exciting as Game 3 was, the job wasn’t even close to being done. The Kings came out flying in the first period of Game 4, with Moore scoring midway through the first period. Overall, the Kings outshot the Oilers 14-6 in the opening frame.
Former Oiler Warren Foegele scored 91 seconds into the second period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead, but Perry responded with a power play goal less than three minutes later. That hope didn’t last for long, as Fiala scored seven and a half minutes into the second period, giving the Kings a 3-1 lead as they hunted a 3-1 series lead.
Down two entering the third, the Oilers needed to find a way to win this game. As noted previously, the Kings were 31-6-4 at home, with the Oilers already needing to find a way to win a game in L.A. if they wanted to win the series. Bouchard scored his third of the series eight minutes into the frame.
Then, the second turning point of the series happened. In the final minute of the game, Byfield attempted to skate the puck down the ice for an empty-net goal. He easily could’ve cleared the puck, but Bouchard kept the puck in with an excellent pokecheck. A few seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net.
The third and final turning point came in overtime. Edmonton dominated the overtime period, outshooting the Kings 17-7 with far more zone time. All that defending eventually caught up to the Kings, as Vladislav Gavrikov took a tripping penalty late in the first overtime period. Just over 30 seconds into the overtime period, Draisaitl found the back of the net to knot the series up at two.

Game 5

Still, the Oilers needed a win at Staples Center, where the Kings were 31-6-4 in the regular season. However, the Oilers were already on a roll.
Kuzmenko scored another power play goal early in the second period, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Evander Kane tied the game. Then seven minutes into the third period, Janmark scored his second of the series to put the Oilers up 2-1.
An empty-netter by Nugent-Hopkins late in the game sealed it, as the Oilers flung 46 shots on Darcy Kuemper, allowing just 22 shots against Calvin Pickard. It was Pickard’s third consecutive game, and just like that, the Oilers had a chance to win in Alberta.

Game 6

Unsurprisingly, the Kings scored the opening goal, as Byfield scored 79 seconds into the game. Adam Henrique tied the game less than two minutes later, before the Kings restored their lead 33 seconds later. The see-saw game continued, as Nugent-Hopkins scored a power play goal six minutes into the game, evening it up at two.
Hyman scored his second of the postseason with about seven minutes left in the first period, and the Oilers held the lead from there. Darnell Nurse scored with five minutes left in the second period, then Trent Frederic scored thanks to a deflection with just under three and a half minutes left.
Of course, the Kings pushed back, with Jordan Spence scoring with two minutes left in the second. With just 55 seconds left in the game, Kopitar got the Kings to within one, making all of Oil Country sweat, but the Oilers held on, with Brown clinching the series with an empty-netter with two seconds on the clock.

The rest of the playoffs

It’s crazy how two decisions turned the Oilers into a wagon. Had the Kings not challenged the goal interference in Game 3, or Byfield just chipped it out late in Game 4, would the Oilers have won the series? Probably not, to be honest. The Kings had the Oilers on the ropes, as the Oilers just looked rusty.
Game 5 was the most complete game from the team to that point in the season, but Game 3 saw the Oilers begin a 12-2 stretch against Western Conference teams. Not only did they win the last four games against the Kings, but they defeated the Golden Knights in five, not allowing a goal in the final 127 minutes of the series. Then, they beat the Dallas Stars in five, earning a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.
They actually won Game 1, but then the Florida Panthers won Games 2 and 3, the Oilers won Game 4, before dropping the next two games to suffer another heartbreaking defeat. But we only got that run because of the mistakes the Kings made in Games 3 and 4.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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