The Edmonton Oilers’ first-round opponent will either be Colorado, Anaheim, or, for a fifth consecutive season, the Los Angeles Kings.

What’s odd about this potential matchup is that despite the Oilers winning the previous four meetings, there isn’t much hatred between the two teams. The Kings haven’t shown much anger or frustration in the regular season and gone after the Oilers, and that’s likely why a fifth potential meeting isn’t that exciting for Oilersnation. There isn’t any animosity.

What has to happen to determine who the Oilers play?

Vegas needs one point in their game tonight against Seattle to finish first. They will finish either first or second.

The Oilers need one point to secure second place, and if Vegas loses in regulation, the Oilers will win the division if they defeat Vancouver on Thursday.

If the Oilers lose in regulation and both Anaheim and LA win, then the Oilers finish fourth and will play Colorado.

If the Oilers gain one point and Anaheim wins, they play the Ducks.

The Oilers will play L.A. if Edmonton gains one point, the Kings win and the Ducks lose. If L.A. loses in regulation, they are automatically fourth.

Anaheim plays in Nashville while L.A. is in Calgary. The Ducks’ game will be over before the Oilers and Kings start the third period of their games. They will know what happened in Nashville and how that impacts their playoff standings.

I believe Anaheim would be the most favourable first-round matchup for Edmonton. The Ducks are 1-6-2 in their last nine games. They lost 3-2 in Minnesota last night, and the Wild rested forwards Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello and defensemen Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, and Zach Bogosian.

The Ducks lost to the Oilers 4-2 on March 28, and since then they’ve lost to Toronto (5-4), San Jose (4-3), St. Louis (6-2), Calgary (5-3), and Nashville (5-0). They defeated San Jose 6-1 but then lost to Vancouver (4-3) and Minnesota (3-2). The Wild and Oilers are the only playoff teams they played, and they went 1-4-2 in the seven games against non-playoff teams. They are struggling, and Oilersnation should be cheering for Nashville to mail in their effort tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Kings are 6-0-2 in their last eight games. Granted, the only playoff team they played was Edmonton, and they won 1-0, but unlike Anaheim, the Kings have defeated St. Louis, Toronto, Nashville, Seattle, and Vancouver in April. They did lose last night in OT in Vancouver and lost in a shootout to Nashville.

The Kings are much better defensively than the Ducks. They haven’t changed how they play. They aren’t aggressive. They rank 29th in goals scored but are seventh in goals against. The Oilers know how to beat them, but it often becomes a boring, prodding game. Edmonton has proven it can win playing a patient game against the Kings, but personally I’d rather see a different matchup. The Oilers could lose to LA. It isn’t a guarantee they would win, but I’d argue it’s a guarantee the series wouldn’t be overly exciting. The games would be close, which makes it nerve-wracking for fans, but from a storyline perspective I’d rather see a different script.

— The Oilers’ franchise record of consecutive years playing one team in the playoffs is five. They played Dallas from 1997 to 2001. The Oilers won the first year, and the Dallas won the next four. The Oilers have played the Kings four consecutive seasons twice. From 1989 to 1992, the Oilers lost the first series with Wayne Gretzky in L.A. but then won the next three seasons, and they’ve won four in a row from 2022 to 2025.

— The NHL record for most consecutive seasons playing for one team is nine, set between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.

— The playoffs begin Saturday. Boston, Carolina, Montreal, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have already finished their seasons. Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Ottawa, Vegas and Dallas wrap up their season tonight and Utah, Colorado, LA, Anaheim and Edmonton play Thursday.

I could see PIT/PHI and DAL/MIN starting on Saturday for sure. It also sounds like CAR/OTT will be Saturday, which means MON/TB will be Sunday. If Tampa earns home ice they have a concert scheduled Saturday night, so Sunday would work easier, although teams have moved concerts before. TV plays a major role in scheduling and I’d guess Sportsnet wants Ottawa and Montreal playing on different nights.

The Denver Nuggets are playing at home on Saturday at 1:30 MT and Monday evening, so I’d expect the Avalanche to play Sunday/Tuesday.
Vegas will have home ice. They have Monday Night Raw at T-Mobile arena on Monday, so a Sunday/Tuesday start will work especially if they host Utah, because the Mammoth play Thursday and the NHL has yet to force a team to open the playoff two days after finishing the regular season.

The Oilers will be the late game, as usual, in the opening round, and TV will be a factor. Edmonton has started on Monday in each of the past two playoff years, so don’t rule out a Monday start. I could see Sportsnet preferring to have Edmonton play the same night as Ottawa.

— Nikita Kucherov needs to score five points tonight to move ahead of Connor McDavid in the race for the Art Ross. It is very likely McDavid will secure his sixth Art Ross tonight. He will tie Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux for second place and trail only Wayne Gretzky (10). McDavid needs two goals tomorrow night to reach 50 goals for the second time in his career. If he does, he will join Gretzky (6x), Lemieux (5x), Phil Esposito (4x), Guy Lafleur (3x) and Bobby Hull (2x) as the only players to score 50 goals and win the Art Ross in the multiple seasons.

— For the first time since 1987, the NHL will only have one goalie make 60+ starts. Karel Vejmelka has started 62 games for Utah, while Andrei Vasilevskiy, Juuse Saros and Logan Thompson have started 58. The NHL expanded to 60 games played in 1947 and from then until today, the only year the NHL didn’t have at least one goalie start 60+ games was in 1973 and 1984. Then from 1985-1987 only one goalie each year did it, but then it ramped up and we had seasons with 10+ goalies starting 60 or more. But this season, teams pulled back a bit on goalie starts and I’m curious to see if it continues.

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