Scoreboard	1	2	3	Odds
Edmonton Oilers 48-29-4-1	0	1	4	+5.5
Los Angeles Kings 48-25-6-3	2	2	2	+125

Edmonton Oilers vs. LA Kings Game 1 Prediction, Playoff Odds

The Kings are priced as -115 favourites on the NHL odds and a total of 5.5 goals.

Oilers vs. Kings NHL Betting Odds

The winner of this series between Pacific Division second-place Los Angeles and third-place Edmonton will face either Pacific champion Vegas or Wild-Card Minnesota in the Western Conference semifinals. To repeat as West champion, the Oilers are +340, while the Kings are +950 to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time winning it in 2014.

Los Angeles hasn’t gotten past the first round since in large part due to Edmonton as the clubs meet in the fourth straight postseason. The Oilers won each of the first three, eliminating Los Angeles in five games last season, six in 2023 and seven in 2022 but also had home-ice advantage in each of those. They have met 10 times overall in the playoffs with Edmonton winning eight. Los Angeles hasn’t won in the postseason series since 1989.

On the series line, Edmonton is -135 and Los Angeles +115. The favoured exact result is Oilers in six at +380, followed by Kings in seven at +450 — and that would likely be my early lean simply because they have been so dominant at home. That the series ends in six or seven games are both -200 favourites.

The Kings won the regular-season series 3-1 and won the most recent matchup last Monday, 5-0 in Edmonton. That officially clinched home-ice advantage in this series. The Oilers rested several key players, so we take little from that.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl won his first Rocket Richard Trophy this regular season in leading the NHL with a career-high 52 goals. However, he’s likely to finish second for the Hart Trophy as league MVP behind Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, also the sure-fire Vezina winner. Draisaitl is the +230 favourite to be the top goalscorer in this series. He played in only two regular-season meetings and had two assists. Connor McDavid, the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner and +1500 second-favourite to repeat, had a goal and assist in his two games in the series. McDavid became the fourth player in NHL history with at least eight career 100-point seasons with 100 exactly this year. Both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard started twice in the season series, but Skinner had much better numbers at 1-0-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .932 SV, so we expect it to be him in Game 1. Top Oilers blueliner Mattias Ekholm will miss the series injured, while trade acquisition Trent Frederic is questionable for Game 1 and forward Evander Kane is likely to make his season debut in the opener. Frederic has played in just one game since coming over from Boston.

Los Angeles Kings

It’s a bit surprising to us that the Kings are underdogs in the series considering they are a stellar 31-6-4 on home ice (franchise record for home wins) and won both there against Edmonton in the regular season. The Kings don’t have a true superstar but are very deep as 14 players have at least 20 points led by Adrian Kempe’s 73. He co-led the team with five points (1G, 4A) in the regular-season series along with Warren Foegele (2G, 3A). The Kings’ line of Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere has been one of the NHL’s best, with that trio ranking No. 2 in the league in goal per centage among 79 line combos to play at least 200 minutes together. Darcy Kuemper started all four vs. Edmonton and was 3-0-1 with a 1.05 GAA and .960 SV, so there’s no doubt it will be him starting Game 1. Led by Kuemper, the Kings allowed a league-best 2.63 expected goals per game during the regular season. The team’s 49.2 defensive-zone denial per centage also ranked No. 1.