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Posted at 1:40 PM EST

Regulation only. Edmonton was L.A.’s whipping boys for years and it continued the first time they met this season way back in mid-November when the Kings defeated the Oil, 4-2. That victory made it six straight for the Kings over the Oilers at the time and it was also the Kings’ 11th win in the previous 12 games against Edmonton. However, things are a little bit different now in late March. For one, Edmonton has won the past two games against L.A. while outscoring them 5-1. Los Angeles is about to miss the playoffs for the second straight year. One could attribute last year’s failure to burnout for a team that underachieved. This year, however, the Kings’ came in hungry and we can now attribute their failures to weak goaltending and not enough talent. Yeah, the Kings work hard and hard work counts for something but there is a hungrier and vastly superior team waiting for them and in position for the proverbial passing of the torch. 

It was June 19, 2006. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1. The Oilers got so close to winning their sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history but fell two goals short but surely there would be more for Oilers fans to cheer about. Their team was set to be dominant for years to come, right? It didn’t work out that way. Playoff miss after playoff miss was the rule, as the Oilers plummeted to the bottom of the league.

Now, a little more than a decade and seven head coaches later, the Oilers have a chance to return to the playoffs for the first time since that Stanley Cup Final appearance. If they beat the Kings here, they will clinch a spot in the postseason and long-suffering fans can begin exorcising the memories of last-place finishes and first-round draft-pick busts. With only one win needed to sew up the spot and seven games left on the schedule, the Oilers are a shoo-in for the playoffs at this point but to finally get that clinching “x” next to the team’s name in the standings will be hugely motivating and to do it against a team that has been abusing them for years would be extra gratifying but it’s more than that. Connor McDavid gives the Oilers that “it” factor and it is in precisely these types of games in which the best of the best shine and display that refuse to lose attitude. The arena will be electric tonight and the Oilers will be jacked up and raring to go. The Oilers are hot and getting hotter. They have scored seven goals three times over their past seven games and have also won six of their past seven. Since coming back from its bye week on Feb. 11, the Oilers have 16 power play goals in 50 opportunities, a 32% rating, which ranks first in the NHL over that time. 

L.A. does not want the Oilers to clinch on its watch but this market has been saying similar things about the Kings for two years now. In must win games, the Kings have rolled snake-eyes too many times over the past two years to trust them to prevent the Oilers from clinching. Los Angeles is now the weaker team in this matchup that this determined Oilers’ bunch should be able to impose their will against. The Oil will not be denied, at least not by this visitor.   

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