It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Kings play their best games at home at Crypto.com Arena. After all, they had one of the best home records this season, going 31-6-4. So far in the 1st round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they are undefeated at home, winning Games 1 & 2 against the Edmonton Oilers, and they still have home ice advantage going into Game 5 on April 29 at Crypto.com Arena. But has the momentum shifted in the series after the Oilers came back from the dead in Games 3 and 4 at Rogers Place in Edmonton to tie the series at two games apiece?
Related: Oilers Make Dramatic Comeback to Beat Kings in OT, Even Series 2-2
The Oilers came into Game 1 having suffered through a lot of injuries to key players down the stretch, and it took until the third period of the 6-5 Game 1 loss for the team to find chemistry with each other again. As the series has continued, the Oilers seem to be coming together just at the right time, and the Kings seem to be getting worn down. Kings head coach Jim Hiller has primarily rolled with three lines and four defencemen, and in overtime of Game 4, his team was literally running on fumes. He could choose to give more ice time to young defencemen Brandt Clarke and Jacob Moverare, but it remains to be seen if he will. Considering how much ice time Hiller has given his veterans, he might be forced into deploying more of his forwards that haven’t seen a lot of ice time in this series, such as Jeff Malott, Trevor Lewis, and Samuel Helenius. We will see what happens in Game 5.
Proof Is in the Pudding for the Oilers
The Oilers have had to mount third-period comebacks in three of four first-round games because of the style of play the Kings have adopted under Hiller. The Kings have been aggressive in the first two periods of each game, and for some reason have gone into prevention mode in the third period. This strategy isn’t working, and Hiller will have to look at changing it up in Games 5 and 6. Another reason the Oilers might be slowly taking the series over is that Kings veterans such as Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar might be running out of gas. Additionally, players such as Andrei Kuzmenko and Quinton Byfield have become invisible due to the Oilers finishing their checks on them at every turn. With Oilers such as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Evander Kane, John Klingberg, and ageless wonder Corey Perry hitting their strides, it’s looking like the Oilers might be slowly grinding the Kings down.
This could, of course, all change in Game 5–especially if the Kings win at home. But the longer this series goes on, and if it does go seven games, I would give the edge to the Oilers.
Oilers’ Pickard Matching Kings’ Kuemper Save for Save
When it comes to goaltending, the Kings entered the series with the Oilers with a big edge. Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper has had an outstanding season, and looked to have given the Kings the advantage in goal over Oilers goaltenders Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner. But weird things have been happening. The Oilers peppered Kuemper with 35 shots in Game and 48 shots in Game 4–and Pickard now has a higher save percentage (SV%) than Kuemper with a .889 SV% in two games compared to Kuemper’s .881 in four.
Pickard’s playoff SV% is actually better than all three Vezina Trophy finalists, including Kuemper, Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy at .884 and Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck at .817. With Kuemper facing a lot of rubber over the past two games in Edmonton, you have to wonder if he can withstand another barrage of shots, especially if the Oilers are able to get at least 30 on him per game in the remaining two or possibly three games.
Hard to Predict What Will Happen in This Series
This Oilers/Kings series has been an unpredictable rollercoaster of emotion and action, and it’s hard to say what will happen in Game 5 in Los Angeles and Game 6 back in Edmonton on Thursday. One trend that seems to be favouring the Oilers is that they look like the fresher team and it just might help them win one of the two remaining games at Crypto.com Arena. They also look like they’re coming together more as a team after all the late-season injuries, and that could spell trouble for the Kings. It’s hard to say. This series features two evenly-matched teams that make it almost too close to call.
