When the Edmonton Oilers left Winnipeg on Thursday night, the Jets looked demoralized. They’d blown yet another lead and flailed down the stretch of another winnable game.

Twenty-four hours later, those same down-bad Jets snapped their 11-game losing skid against the Oilers’ opponent on Saturday night – the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings may have still been reeling from a gutwrenching overtime loss to San Jose on Wednesday, where LA got Macklin’d and Celebrini’d their way to two points in a late comeback.

But the underlying issues of struggling to score reared their head, and Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals on just sixteen Winnipeg shots to lose 5-1. Kuemper was yanked to start the third period.

“It’s hard, you have to go back through and look at it again, but we started fine,” said coach Jim Hillier post-game. “Really, it was probably their power play, I think, got some momentum with five minutes left in the first period. I didn’t think they had much prior to that, besides the goal.”

Los Angeles allowed Vlad Namestikov to end a 27-game goalscoring drought. Jonathan Toews ended a 30-gamer.

It was one of those nights, perhaps, but now the Kings have a quick back-to-back for their first matchup against the Oilers this year.

“I think we had a couple unfortunate bounces against us, but other than that, I think, you’re down a couple of goals, it’s tough to start climbing back,” said Adrian Kempe post-game.

“Tried to look for one or a couple, but I think we had our chances. Been kind of the same issue as it’s been all year, and that’s putting more than one or two on the board, and it continued tonight.”

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To Live and Die in LA

The Kings fell out of a wildcard spot after the Utah Mammoth beat the St. Louis Blues on Friday, meaning they’re one point back.

Their claim to fame has been dragging games past regulation. Overtime merchants they are, the Kings’ record of 18-15-10 is probably better than the sum of their parts, despite going to extra time on 16 occasions.

Hillier’s path to success is keeping games close, even as showtime lacks action.

But they’re no pushover either. They beat the Minnesota Wild twice in three days to start the week. They boast an 11-6-5 road record.

While they are one of the league’s least exciting offerings, the Kings can still collect points, leading fans to both excitement and anguish as they watch this mishmash of players enter the playoff bubble.

Unlethal weapons?

The franchise made a major commitment to Adrien Kempe, paying the 29-year-old like a true elite forward, for $10.625 million annually until 2034. For a player whose career high in goals in 35, and points is 75, it’s hard to see him surpassing those totals.

This season, he again leads the team in scoring like he has the last two seasons, with 15 goals and 34 points.

But after Kevin Fiala’s 31 points, where do the goals come from?

Is Quentin Byfield just a 50-point guy? Is this who he is? He scored his seventh of the season yesterday, and has registered 25 points.

Hillier was asked about Byfield and his lack of a shot-first mentality.

“You have to shoot the puck. You’re a team that’s not scoring a lot of goals, you’ve got to direct everything, and you get anything inside that slot area,” said Hillier. “I don’t think we have to overthink it.”

Anze Kopitar isn’t who he once was. Andrei Kuzmenko has frustrated since being extended with just 16 points. If not for Corey Perry’s continued league supremacy, the Kings would lack that much more offensive punch.

Hillier fielded an 11-forward, seven-defencemen group with the number of injuries and absences.

Perry is currently away on leave from the team, dealing with a family illness. Kopitar is day-to-day. Trevor Moore was placed on injury reserve Thursday. Joel Armia may or may not come back tonight.

Tonight’s lineup could be interesting.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Against the Pacific Division this season, the Kings have lost four of their last five. However, the reflect overall against divisional opponents is 4-1-5.

They lose well enough to keep gaining points.

This is the first of three Oilers vs Kings matchups this season. The next two are after the Olympic break.

Notes:

Kings forwards Taylor Ward and Andre Lee each made his season debut, with Ward collecting his first NHL assist.
Los Angeles has one of the bottom power play units in the league, fifth worst at 15.6 per cent. The penalty kill ranks a bit better at 22nd, running at 77.2 per cent. The Jets PP went 1/2 on the night. With the Oilers’ current historic power play, the Kings could get in real trouble if they’re undisciplined.
After career highs in goals and points a year ago, former Oiler Warren Foegele ain’t up to much these days. He has six goals and eight points in 35 games, on pace for his worst offensive season since his rookie year in 2018-19.
Both Kuemper and backup Anton Forsberg have provided plus .900 goaltending.
I have a sneaking suspicion the Kings will be at full attention for this game tonight. It’s their first time back in Edmonton since May 1, when the Oilers completed the reverse sweep of the Kings in a 6-4 win.
In the regular season, the Oilers are 4-3-1 in their last eight matchups vs the Kings.

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