Game 1 Preview – Making Home-Ice Advantage Count + Series X-Factor, King Kuemper, Broadcast Info

WHO: Los Angeles Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers (Series Tied 0-0)
WHAT: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Round 1, Game 1
WHEN: Monday, April 21 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: FanDuel Sports Network, ESPN2 – AUDIO – ESPN LA 710, ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The postseason is finally upon us, as the LA Kings host Edmonton this evening to begin the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings won the regular-season series, winning three of four games, though Edmonton has won three consecutive postseason matchups from 2022-24.

Forwards Warren Foegele (2-3-5) and Adrian Kempe (1-4-5) led the Kings with five points during the regular-season series, while forward Quinton Byfield led the team with three goals from four games played. Kempe is the team leader in goals (11) and points (19) over the last three postseasons and his 1.06 points-per-game pace ranks 11th in the NHL in that span, among players with at least 15 games played.

KINGS VITALS: After holding full-team practices on consecutive days, the Kings went with an optional morning skate today in El Segundo.

In goal, Darcy Kuemper did not skate this morning and is tonight’s projected starter for Game 1. Against Edmonton this season, Kuemper has a 3-1-0 record with a .960 save percentage and a 1.05 goals-against average. The veteran is in line to appear in his 35th career playoff game tonight, his first as a member of the Kings.

No formal line rushes today, with the optional skate, but here’s how the Kings looked over the last two days of practice –

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Turcotte

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Spence
Edmundson – Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

Those are not confirmed, but consider that the most likely destination.

Should the Kings make any changes to that group, forwards Trevor Lewis and Akil Thomas, along with defensemen Kyle Burroughs and Jacob Moverare are options to check in throughout that group and could factor in during the series. Those four players were on late after today’s morning skate, alongside the recently recalled Pheonix Copley, who will be the emergency goaltender for tonight’s Game 1.

Forward Tanner Jeannot is the only player not expected to be available, having already been ruled out for at least Games 1 and 2, with a week-to-week timeline.

OILERS VITALS: Edmonton practiced at Crypto.com Arena yesterday, where it also held a morning skate earlier on today.

Per Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, here’s how the Oilers aligned in their last full-team practice –

Oilers lines and pairings at practice in SJ:
Hyman-McDavid-Brown
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Henrique-RNH-Skinner
Janmark-Kapanen-Perry
Frederic (wearing blue)
Extras: Jones-Ryan-Kane (wearing grey)

Nurse-Bouchard
Kulak-Walman
Emberson-Brown
Dineen-Klingberg

No Troy Stecher

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) April 18, 2025

Defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Troy Stecher, along with forward Evander Kane, are out for tonight’s Game 1. Forward Trent Frederic is a game-time decision for Game 1. Defenseman Brett Kulak missed yesterday’s practice, to attend the birth of his child, but is expected to play this evening.

In net, look for goaltender Stuart Skinner to get the nod between the pipes. Skinner has a record of 7-3-0 against the Kings in his playoff career, with a .899 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average.

Storyline Of The Day – Making The Most Of Home-Ice Advantage
Every playoff game carries a balance between nerves and excitement.

If you don’t care, you wouldn’t be nervous, right?

Whether it’s a player like Alex Turcotte, playing in his first ever playoff game tonight or Drew Doughty, who is playing in his 96th, there’s a bit of nerves that go into playing in a playoff game, no doubt about it.

“I think we’re all going to be a little bit nervous,” Doughty said. “I don’t know how many kicks at the can I’m going to have left. I feel those nerves. When we roll out there, before the anthems start, I feel it, during the anthems, I feel it, but immediately when that puck drops, all those nerves go away and you’re just at home, playing the game you love, that you’ve played for your whole life.”

For the Kings this spring, as Doughty said, they’ll have those nerves at home for Game 1.

It’s a new sight for this group and a new opportunity, having opened the last three series on the road in Edmonton. All in all, the Kings have fared well in those Game 1’s, winning in 2022 and 2023, but there is something to be said for having this game come in Los Angeles.

First time since 2016 we’ve said that. Not that the Kings are an organization that has traditionally had home-ice advantage when they’ve won in the postseason, as we all know, but it’s certainly a nice boost going into a series. Another way it makes this thing feel different than in years past.

“It’s the first time we’ve had it, so that’s huge for us,” Doughty said. “Every team, for the most part, is best in their own arena, especially us this year, so it’s a huge bonus for us.”

Now comes the hard part, right?

Making it count.

In some ways, the Kings won back home-ice advantage over the past three seasons, splitting the games in Edmonton each season they’ve gone there for Games 1 and 2.

But this is different. They’re going into Game 1 on level footing.

In speaking with Adrian Kempe this morning, he said that he and Anze Kopitar were talking the other day and that Kopitar has only played one or two Game 1’s in Los Angeles. And that’s a guy who is approaching his 100th career game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during this series.

“It’s different for all of us, but it’s two really important games at home that you have to win,” Kempe added. “We’ve been really solid at home all year, but playoffs is a different animal. It’s nice to have the first two games at home, but we’ve got to go out and play the same way we have at home all year.”

Having home-ice advantage is great. Home teams won four of the five games played over the last two days around the league. Throughout NHL history, teams that win Game 1 at home have won 75 percent of series played, as opposed to just 56 percent when the road team wins Game 1. That’s three quarters against a coin flip. Pretty sizable.

That’s a stat, though, and I’m not sure how much that matters.

For tonight, the Kings will be at home. Fans at their back. Confidence when playing at Crypto.com Arena. Time to go and get the job done.

“We haven’t had that before, [the fans] have been a big part, especially this year, with how well we’ve been at home, so it helps give you maybe a little more energy, a little more momentum on your side,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “Guys are excited to start at home and hopefully take advantage of it.”

That’s exactly it, Mikey. Time to take advantage.

3 To Watch For –
– A lot of talk about a potential X-Factor in a series like this. For me, it’s forward Kevin Fiala.

Weird to call your highest paid forward an X-Factor, but I think he’s the guy. Fiala is a new man entering these playoffs. While it took him maybe the first three months to get there, by the time the calendar flipped to January, we saw a dangerous offensive player, capable of changing games, without as many of the offensive-zone penalties and the defensive-zone lapses that made often made his contributions a roller coaster. A complete player, who scored 21 goals from January 1 on, leading the Kings and placing inside the Top-20 in the NHL.

This is a throwback to a couple of months ago, but a lot of good stuff from Fiala on how he’s gotten to this point, HERE.

All of that being said, though, this is the postseason. And the playoffs are a different beast.

Fiala has just two goals in eight playoff games with the Kings, including one in five games last year. For the player, that’s in the past. What’s ahead is a real opportunity to be the game changer he wants to be and that he certainly can be. The Kings have a balanced offensive approach, with three lines capable of scoring and a fourth line that is designed to play in the offensive zone.

Having Kopitar and Danault’s lines is not new. It’s the Fiala/Byfield/Laferriere line that is new and that has the potential offensively to be the difference-making line for the Kings. That’s the line that I think can swing the series if they can either handle themselves against Edmonton’s top six or feast on the bottom six. Fiala is the most creative player on the team and in the second half of the season, he’s played a game that allows him to use that creativity, but within a team concept that should be able to be carried over into the playoffs, when things naturally tighten up.

Excited to see what 22 can do. He’s the X-Factor for me as we head into Game 1.

– For Darcy Kuemper, it’s his first playoff game tonight as a member of the LA Kings.

Far from his first playoff game overall, as he brings a Stanley Cup championship in 2022 to the table, along with numerous other appearances in the postseason.

Kuemper recalls back to his playoff debut in 2013 with Minnesota, when he entered in relief, as almost a trial by fire moment. No time to prepare. Just get in and stop the puck.

“My first game was coming off the bench and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think or get too nervous for it, so it was kind of nice to just get thrown into the fire and go play,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of excitement and energy and it’s just about channeling that the best you can.”

He’s come a long way since.

His most recent playoff game? Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. Doesn’t feel all that long ago, but when you’ve had the taste of winning, three years is a long time.

Kuemper backed up Charlie Lindgren last season in Washington, but the Capitals lost four straight in that series against New York. It’ll be a different feel for Kuemper tonight, back as the lead dog, back between the pipes for an exciting moment tonight.

“It’s excitement, really,” he said, of what he’s missed. “I’ve been itching to get back there. It’ll be fun to be back out in that atmosphere. The crowd is so intense, the buildings are so intense, the games mean so much. It’s the most fun type of hockey to play.”

The Kings know Kuemper is an important part of overturning past playoff defeats. He’s had a season that has him in the conversation to be a Vezina finalist.

This is bigger though. It’s playoff time and that’s what Kuemper is in pursuit of.

“We’ve been looking forward to the playoffs for a long time now and we’re excited to get going.”

– A reminder for those in the Los Angeles market, that tonight’s game is available both on ESPN2, with a national broadcast crew, as well as FanDuel Sports Network West, with local talent. The entire series will be broadcast both locally and nationally. For those out of market, I believe that a national feed is all you’ll have access to, with ESPN2 in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada.

The Kings will also have a dedicated radio broadcast – no simulcast – with Josh Schaefer and Daryl Evans for the entirety of Round 1. Game 1 tonight will be available over the air on ESPN LA 710, as well as via the ESPN LA App and the LA Kings App.

Glad I am not doing Kings Keys anymore because that’s way easier to write than it is to say.

Kings and Oilers. Game 1, baby. Should be fun. 7 PM puck drop at Crypto.com Arena as the playoffs return to Los Angeles!