WHO: Los Angeles Kings (0-2-2) vs. Edmonton Oilers (4-0-1)
WHAT: 2026-27 NHL Regular Season, Game 5/84
WHEN: Tuesday, October 13 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: ABTV, DAZN – VIDEO: 830 AM KLAA, ESPN LA App, LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are still in search of their first victory of the 2026-27 season, as they host the Edmonton Oilers tonight to kick off a two-game homestand.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Over the last five years, between the regular season and playoffs, no player in the NHL has scored more goals against the Oilers than Kings forward Adrian Kempe, who has hit the back of the net 21 times in that span. Forward Quinton Byfield is a point-per-game player against the Oilers over the last three seasons, netting 11 points (4-7-11) in 11 games played.
KINGS VITALS: The Kings only have 18 healthy skaters on the roster and, as such, would be in line to use those 18 skaters in tonight’s game.
Coming off of consecutive solid showings, goaltender Darcy Kuemper will get the nod this evening against the Oilers, his third straight start between the pipes. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 13-5-4 against Edmonton, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average.
Here’s a projected lineup for the Kings this evening, in search of more offensive production then they’ve gotten over the last two games –
Panarin – Byfield – Kempe
Laferriere – Haula – Perry
Moore – Laughton – Armia
Lee – Helenius
Dumoulin – Doughty
Gustafsson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Edmundson
Kuemper
Forsberg
After the Kings assigned forward Jared Wright back to the AHL, they have only 18 skaters available for tonight’s game – 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. The above alignment is what we saw during yesterday’s practice, minus Wright, so there really aren’t a ton of additional options. More below.
OILERS VITALS: Edmonton has points in all five games it has played to open the season, most recently including a 3-1 win over San Jose on Saturday evening.
Per Bob Stauffer of the Edmonton radio broadcast, here’s how the Oilers lined up last time out –
The @EdmontonOilers pre-game warm-up: Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl Hallander-Dickinson-Kapanen Formenton-Michaels-Joseph Frederic-Samanski-Howard Ekholm-Bouchard Shea-Murphy Mukhamadullin-Emberson Jarry
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) October 10, 2026
The Oilers have been led by their big guns early in the season. Forward Connor McDavid leads the NHL with 13 points (3-10-13) while defenseman Evan Bouchard is tied for the league lead among all players with six goals and forward Leon Draisaitl ranks inside the NHL’s top ten in assists (6) and points (9).
Storyline Of The Day – Good Stretches Aren’t Good Enough
“I think we’ve had good stretches for sure, but it’s definitely not good enough. You’ve got to win hockey games. You want to get off to a good start, but it’s hard right now too, it feels like we’ve been playing every four days, you can’t really get into rhythm, but that’s not an excuse. We’ve got to find a way here, it’s a big game.”
I think that quote from forward Scott Laughton sums things up pretty well.
There have been good stretches within all four games for the Kings. It also hasn’t been good enough. Perhaps I’d add that it hasn’t been good enough for long enough. But four games played and zero wins shows that good stretches aren’t good enough.
The Kings have played good periods. They’ve played good segments. They have yet to play a good game, start to finish. A full 60 minutes is a big hockey cliché, but I think you’re seeing it with the Kings, in that it hasn’t shown up yet to that extent.
“We need to play a full 60, make it hard on their D to break pucks out, make it a little easier on ours and get through our neutral zone a little bit cleaner too,” Laughton added. “It’s everything. Clean it up a little bit and we’ll be good. I don’t think it’s a lack of effort in our room, I think it’s there, we just need to continue to move forward.”
Ultimately, it’s winning that cures all. The Kings have played four games and they have zero wins.
In town tonight are the Edmonton Oilers, who have been in town more regularly than any other team over the last five years. The Kings and Oilers have split the last 16 regular-season meetings, dating back to the end of the 2021-22 season, with each team winning eight times. Does a rivalry matchup spark anything extra? For a team with no wins, it shouldn’t take that and in asking those in the room, it’s the need for a win that is driving the team, not just one opponent.
“We’re motivated because we need to start to win,” forward Artemi Panarin added. “Three games we were close, but we need to get in the win column and it’s not there. It puts a little bit of pressure on us. We want to win a home game, in front of our fans. That’s a pressure we feel and we’ve got to handle that and get a win.”
Need to win, indeed.
Against the 4-0-1 Oilers, a team which ranks fifth in goals scored and fifth in goal differential, with a 3-0-0 record on the road, the NHL leader in points and the NHL leader in goals and points by a defenseman……certainly a challenge ahead for a Kings team trying to prevent losses from snowballing.
“We certainly want to win a game tonight and whatever the results are tonight, we have to win the next one as well,” Laviolette added. “When you don’t find the win column in the first four games, there’s more urgency. That could be in the middle of the season as well, if you go on a drought where you’re 0-2-2, 1-3, whatever it might be, your next game is an important game. That’s where we’re at today.”
3 To Watch For –
– In terms of the forward lines, Peter Laviolette said that the changes we saw during practice yesterday were introduced with the hope of getting more from the group offensively.
“It gets moved a little bit as guys come out of the lineup, Turcotte now out, Zuccarello now out, so we just played the one game, and there wasn’t a lot of offense,” Laviolette said. “I think that’s the last couple games now. That’s the way that those teams wanted it played, it’s a little bit tighter, bigger teams that defend well and don’t need a lot of time and space. I don’t think we generated a whole lot. So again, with the injuries and players coming out of the lineup, just to practice and take a different look at it.”
The moves made saw Corey Perry move onto a line with Erik Haula and Alex Laferriere. Trevor Moore skated with Scott Laughton and Joel Armia, while Jared Wright moved to the fourth line with Andre Lee and Samuel Helenius. Then, Wright was loaned to the AHL after practice.
Laviolette said before the season that his preferred alignment is to have two scoring lines, a checking line and a fourth line with a specific identity. Having two top-six wingers out really hurts that second scoring line. When it was Haula, Moore and Laferriere, it essentially became the shutdown line in Vegas, with scoring duties also required because it was Line 2 and the bottom six as aligned doesn’t really offer a ton of offense. That was one of the problems the Kings hit down the stretch last season too, in my opinion, which was that those two wingers with Quinton Byfield were the matchup line, but also the second scoring line. It led to a bottom six that produced very little.
Maybe this frees up Laferriere a bit and puts Perry into more offensive situations. Either way, the depth is stretched pretty thin, but when you’ve lost four straight games, you’ve got to try and adjust a bit. See how this goes.
– On the assignment of Wright, I’ll be honest, it didn’t really make a ton of sense to me when it came out yesterday. Here is what Peter Laviolette had to say –
“He played a good game, he got called up on that night and the decision was made for 12 and six, tonight we’re going back with 11 and seven,” Laviolette said. “It wasn’t about what he did. He’s a good young player, he had an impressive training camp, he went down [to the AHL] and played really well. He didn’t do anything wrong, per se, in the game, but in the same sense, if he’s not going to be in the lineup tonight, we may as well have him play some games, he’s a young player.”
The Kings are now locked into their roster for tonight, with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, which really isn’t a problem, since that’s clearly the way they were going to go anyways. In doing so, Wright is the player out. I don’t really understand the timing, but perhaps that’s overthinking a simple move. Were this a money-saving move, it would have been done on Sunday. But not only wasn’t it, but it wasn’t done until after practice on Monday. So it’s not about that.
Now, due to a new rule in the CBA, Wright will have to suit up in one AHL game, which will likely come tomorrow as the Ontario Reign visit the San Diego Gulls. After that game, he would be eligible to return to the Kings, if they want to pursue that option. The Kings could recall another player today, which is still a possibility. I’m just not sure why that player just wouldn’t be Wright if needed. Assuming all goes according to plan, it’s all fine. If not, though, the Kings could be left a player short, which is a small risk but one I am unsure why you’d take unnecessarily.
I felt Wright showed well enough of himself in Vegas and he wouldn’t have been the player I’d have taken out, in one form or another. That is the approach the Kings are taking, though, and they’ll roll with the 18 skaters on the roster tonight.
– Lastly, forward Mats Zuccarello was on the ice with the full group today for morning skate.
Not a change in timeline, per se, on Zuccarello, from Peter Laviolette. It’s now been one week since he last played and he’s on a week-to-week timeline.
PL said it was “good to have him out on the ice” but beyond that, status quo. He won’t play tonight versus Edmonton.
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 13, 2026
It’s been one week since Zuccarello last played, in the home opener versus Florida. So, with a week-to-week timeline, it’s not all that surprising to see him back in the fold. Zuccarello was on the ice early yesterday, working on his own……well, technically with Kevin Fiala, but they’re on different programs.
Zuccarello remains on injured reserve and I’m not sure he would be eligible to play tonight, even with an October 6 designation. Irrelevant, I suppose. We turn our attention now to Saturday, which would give Zuccarello a couple of practice days. We’ll see where he’s at by then.
The team departs for a five-game trip on the East Coast on Sunday, with Saturday’s matchup against Boston in between. Both Zuccarello and forward Alex Turcotte are both eligible to be activated from injured reserve this weekend if they are ready. If not, I can’t see the Kings making that trip with 18 skaters, so I’d expect reinforcements between now and then at the least, whether it be players coming back or players coming up.
7:30 PM puck drop tonight, I believe the only one of the season for the Kings on home ice. A familiar foe in Edmonton, with the Kings still winless on the season thus far. A big challenge against the NHL’s best team by points percentage in the early goings.