NHL: Playoff-Seeking Kings Welcome Spoiling Oilers

After having been shut out of the playoffs for most of the past decade, the Los Angeles Kings have qualified for the past two post-seasons. They’re currently tied for first place with the Phoenix Coyotes in the Pacific Division, and they’d like to be the third seed in the Western Conference this time. Keeping that in mind, on Monday at the Staples Center they host an Oilers squad they had beaten in Edmonton 4-1 just last Friday.

Perhaps the Kings might be thinking this will be easy pickings once again. For their sake, they better hope they stay sharp. For one thing, all Edmonton can do now is play the role of spoiler (and you can’t spell “spoiler” without “Oiler”). For another, the Oilers really like to play the Kings on the road: in their last seven trips to L.A. dating back to December 2008, Edmonton has beaten them five or the past seven times and 13 of the past 20. That’s a trend, folks.

Having said that, Edmonton faces a tougher task trying to repeat this. For one thing, Taylor Hall is out for the season with a shoulder injury; for another, they’re also missing two cogs on their blueline in Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry, neither of whom made the road trip because of injuries. Still, even without Hall and with a depleted defensive corps, the Oil did ruin Anaheim’s home finale 2-1 on Sunday in a game which set an NHL first: every goal-scorer’s first name was Teemu (Hartikainen had both for Edmonton, while Selanne notched the lone tally for the Ducks).

Meanwhile, the Kings have their own problems. Winger Jeff Carter is now in a walking boot, which doesn’t fit into a skate. With Carter out, it’s up to the likes of Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty to follow the lead of captain Dustin Brown and pick up the pace of their game.

They’re capable of doing that: L.A. rattled off a six-game winning streak in the middle of March which saw them beat Chicago, Detroit, Anaheim, Nashville, San Jose and St. Louis. They went on to lose three of their next five, though, so it’s tough to know which team will show up on Monday.

The NHL betting line has Los Angeles favoured in this one, and a look at their home record indicates this makes sense: L.A. has lost only three times in their last 10 home games dating back to Feb. 1. As previously mentioned, however, the Oilers have the ability — and the history — to screw things up for the Kings.