As we know from the four playoff series, L.A. is going to try and lock things down. The Kings want to grind games into the ground, control possession, and make everything feel tight, and the numbers back that up with L.A. sitting north of 52 percent in both Corsi and expected goals at five-on-five. The Oilers live closer to even in both of those areas, but where they separate themselves is on offence and game-breaking special teams. Edmonton is averaging 3.39 goals per game compared to the Kings\u2019 2.67, and if this turns into a special teams night, the advantage tilts even hard in our direction. The Oilers\u2019 power play is clicking at a ridiculous 34.2 percent, while the Kings\u2019 sits at 15.3, so the best thing that could happen for our side is for the Kings to lose control.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Connor McDavid, who continues to turn every single opponent he faces into another slot on his personal highlight reel. He comes into Saturday\u2019s game riding a career-high 17-game point streak<\/a> with 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points, which is just laugh-out-loud stupid. When McDavid is leaving a wake of destruction like this, game plans tend to last about five minutes before they fall apart. Looking for the longest point streak of his career, I\u2019d bet all of Gregor\u2019s money that No. 97 will come out flying and do everything he can to keep the heater going.In goal, Connor Ingram<\/a> gets the start for Edmonton, his sixth of the season, and it\u2019s clear the organization is really trying to figure out what they have in him. Through his first five appearances, Ingram sports a 3.02 GAA and a .891 save percentage, which look average on paper, but that brutal start against Boston is doing most of the damage to his numbers. Four of his five starts have come with save percentages north of .900, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m talking out of school when I say that a lot of Oilers fans are appreciating his calm in the crease. The Kings will test him, but if Ingram can give his teammates steady goaltending, the rest will take care of itself.In a weird way, tonight\u2019s game feels like the starting blocks for the playoff stretch drive. There\u2019s playoff history, fatigue for L.A. after last night\u2019s loss, and two teams that genuinely do not like each other. If the Oilers<\/a> lean into the emotion without losing discipline, use home ice the way it\u2019s supposed to be used, and let their skill do the talking, this has the makings of a really fun night at Rogers Place. Rivalries born in the playoffs don\u2019t fade quietly, and I\u2019d be shocked if this one stays calm for very long.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see what the numbers say\u2026<\/p>\n THE NUMBERS<\/p>\n OILERS<\/p>\n KINGS<\/p>\n RECORD<\/p>\n 22-16-6<\/p>\n 18-15-10<\/p>\n WIN\/LOSS STREAK<\/p>\n W2<\/p>\n L1<\/p>\n LAST 10 GAMES<\/p>\n 6-4-0<\/p>\n 4-5-1<\/p>\n GOALS FOR<\/p>\n 149<\/p>\n 115<\/p>\n GOALS AGAINST<\/p>\n 148<\/p>\n 122<\/p>\n POWER PLAY%<\/p>\n 34.2<\/p>\n 15.3<\/p>\n PENALTY KILL%<\/p>\n 80.0<\/p>\n 76.9<\/p>\n GOALS FOR\/GAME<\/p>\n 3.39<\/p>\n 2.67<\/p>\n GOALS AGAINST\/GAME<\/p>\n 3.36<\/p>\n 2.84<\/p>\n AVG. SHOTS\/FOR<\/p>\n 28.9<\/p>\n 28.2<\/p>\n AVG. SHOTS\/AGAINST<\/p>\n 27.2<\/p>\n 26.9<\/p>\n TEAM SAVE%<\/p>\n .887<\/p>\n .922<\/p>\n CORSI FOR%<\/p>\n 50.16<\/p>\n 52.89<\/p>\n PDO<\/p>\n 0.976<\/p>\n 1.000<\/p>\n TEAM SHOOTING%<\/p>\n 8.96<\/p>\n 7.80<\/p>\n EXPECTED GOALS FOR%<\/p>\n 50.82<\/p>\n 52.29<\/p>\n Tonight\u2019s matchup is the first of three this season between the Oilers and Kings. These teams will meet again in Los Angeles on February 26th and again on April 11th to conclude the season series.Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leads all active Oilers in career games (45) played against Los Angeles, while Connor McDavid leads all active Oilers in career points (44).Connor McDavid has recorded at least a point in four straight regular season games against Los Angeles (2G, 5A). Leon Draisaitl has at least a point in four straight regular season games against the Kings (1G, 6A).LINEUPS\u2026Oilers<\/a><\/p>\n Nugent-Hopkins \u2013 McDavid \u2013 Hyman Ekholm \u2013 Bouchard Ingram<\/p>\n Make it three straight games where Andrew Mangiapane<\/a> is on the outside looking in, and the tough part about that decision is that the team looks better without him. While one can never be sure how long Kris Knoblauch will keep his lines together, the combinations listed above have looked pretty good in Edmonton\u2019s last two wins. Outside of Ingram getting the start and Alec Regula coming back in for Riley Stillman<\/a>, Knoblauch is keeping the group mostly the same.Kings<\/p>\n Malott \u2013 Laferriere \u2013 Kempe Anderson \u2013 Doughty Forsberg<\/p>\n You\u2019d have to think the Kings will come into today\u2019s game with a chip on their shoulder, given that they\u2019re the ones who finally ended the Jets\u2019 11-game losing streak last night in Winnipeg. The Kings are two games under .500 over their last 10, and last night\u2019s loss was the kind of result that could shake the team awake if the Oilers aren\u2019t careful. We know the Kings have players who can score, but right now, those guys aren\u2019t doing nearly enough of it. Ideally, the Oilers will let sleeping dogs lie.<\/p>\n TONIGHT\u2026 GDB Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid Photoshop by Tom Kostiuk<\/p>\n Game Day Prediction: Oilers finally get their first three-game win streak of the season thanks to a decisive 5-2 win.<\/p>\n Obvious Game Day Prediction: Connor McDavid extends his point streak to 18 games with yet another face-melting goal that will have you flying off your couch.<\/p>\n Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: It\u2019s been a few weeks since I\u2019ve tried this, so I\u2019m going back to Spencer Stastney scoring his first goal as an Oiler.<\/p>\n ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GDB 45.0: Oilers and Kings meet for the first time since the handshake line (8PM MT, CBC) The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-402453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Podkolzin \u2013 Draisaitl \u2013 Kapanen
Howard \u2013 Roslovic \u2013 Savoie
Janmark \u2013 Lazar \u2013 Frederic<\/p>\n
Nurse \u2013 Emberson
Stastney \u2013 Regula<\/p>\n
Foegele \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Ward
Fiala \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Kuzmenko
Lee \u2013 Helenius<\/p>\n
Edmundson \u2013 Clarke
Dumoulin \u2013 Ceci
Moverare<\/p>\n![\"GDB](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768130771_553_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n