The Edmonton Oilers proved themselves to be perhaps the National Hockey League’s most potent offensive team, becoming the first squad since 1996 to feature not two but three separate players that eclipsed the 100 point mark.
No surprises whatsoever that the first two players on that list are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, both of whom continued to assert their dominance over opposing defenses and goaltenders. McDavid had a monster season, scoring 64 goals with 89 assists for a jaw dropping 153 points, a new career high. Draisaitl himself picked up 52 goals with 76 assists for 128 points, while longtime Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached the century mark for the 1st time in his career with 37 goals and 67 assists.
For the second straight year, they’ll be taking on the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As you may remember, it was the Oilers who overcame a 3-2 series deficit to take down the Kings in seven games. But if this prediction from The Hockey News holds true, it will be the exact opposite this year.
Per Adam Proteau, it will be the Kings prevailing in seven games:
“The Oilers have an enormous amount of pressure to improve upon last season’s run to the Western Conference final… There’s just something about the Kings that makes us think they can upset Edmonton. It’s one of two hunch picks in this file, but it’s a strong hunch… The Kings are looking for vengeance after the Oilers eliminated them in last season’s first round. L.A. nearly won that series, taking it to seven games before Edmonton won Game 7. The margin for error was razor-thin, and we see the same margin for error in this new matchup. The Kings were 2-2-0 against the Oilers in the regular season, and that’s a harbinger of how close it will be. But this time, we think the Kings will prevail.”
The series gets underway tonight from Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton.
