WHO: Los Angeles Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers (Series Tied 2-2)
WHAT: 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Round 1, Game 5
WHEN: Tuesday, April 29 @ 7:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL (Ch. 9) and TBS – AUDIO – ESPN LA App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings
TODAY’S MATCHUP: It’s a best-of-three series as the teams return to Los Angeles for a pivotal Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings have six players at a point-per-game or better through the first four games of this series while Edmonton has three.
Forward Phillip Danault had two assists in Game 5, bringing his total to seven points in the series, tied with Anze Kopitar for the second most on the team behind only Adrian Kempe’s nine. With his goal in Game 4, Kevin Fiala became the only King to collect a point in all four games of the series, as he found the back of the net in transition, giving him five total points (3-2-5) in the series to date.
KINGS VITALS: The team hit the ice for an optional morning skate today, following yesterday’s travel day home from Edmonton.
Off of perhaps his strongest performance of the series, goaltender Darcy Kuemper is once again the projected starting netminder for Game 5 tonight. Kuemper made 44 saves in Game 4, the third highest total of his postseason career and the fourth time in his career he’s made at least 40 saves in a playoff game.
The Kings did not take line rushes during today’s morning skate, so showing the Game 4 lineup below –
Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –
Kuzmenko – Kopitar – KempeFoegele – Danault – MooreFiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Malott – Helenius – Lewis
Anderson – DoughtyEdmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Gavrikov
Kuemper
Rittich
— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 28, 2025
Defenseman Jordan Spence will play tonight for sure, but it was unclear if it will be a part of an 11F / 7D approach, or a straight swap for Jacob Moverare, is unclear. More on Spence below.
If the Kings do decide to make an additional change, forwards Alex Turcotte and Akil Thomas, along with defenseman Kyle Burroughs are available to check in as needed.
OILERS VIALS: The Oilers held their morning skate today at Crypto.com Arena in advance of tonight’s game.
Per Tony Brar of Oilers TV, here’s how the Oilers lined up this morning –
EDM lines – Morning Skate:
RNH – McDavid – HymanPodkolzin – Draisaitl – ArvidssonKane – Henrique – Brown
Frederic – Janmark – Perry
Extras: Skinner, Kapanen, Jones, Ryan
Nurse – Bouchard Walman – Klingberg
Kulak – Emberson
Extras: Stecher
Pickard
Skinner#Oilers
— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) April 29, 2025
Edmonton does not appear to be making any lineup changes between Games 4 and 5, based on the above post.
Goaltender Calvin Pickard is expected to get the start between the pipes in Game 5, after winning Games 3 and 4. Pickard made made 38 saves on 41 shots in Game 4 to secure the victory.
Storyline Of The Day – Best Of 3
For the third time in four seasons, the LA Kings are in a 2-2 series through four games.
What’s different is one, the flow of the series, which saw the Kings win Games 1 and 2 for the first time but lose both games in Edmonton for the first time as well. But two, the location.
Game 5 will be in Los Angeles. If necessary, so will Game 7.
“We’d like to be up 3-1 but I think overall, we played two pretty solid games on the road, should have won at least one game there but that’s not the case and right now we come back home, where we’ve been good all year,” forward Adrian Kempe added. “I think we showed the first two games how good we can be at home, so tied series, best of three now, so we’ll take it.”
We’ve spent a lot of time this season detailing the importance of home-ice advantage. The importance of locking up the second seed in the Pacific Division in order to secure it. The team’s success at home so far this season is unquestioned, with 33 victories from 43 games between the regular season and the playoffs.
All of those things led to this moment. But I think we all know better than to just assume that stats are predictive. So much for that “when the Kings score three goals” narrative, right? Same goes for the team’s record when leading after two periods in the regular season. That’s the past.
This Kings team has spoken about being different than seasons past. I agree with them. If that’s true, now is the time to show it.
The task in tonight’s Game 5, with the opportunity to take a 3-2 lead the prize for doing so, is clear. For as tough as Games 3 and 4 went, coming home provides a different wave of confidence.
“We’re coming back home where we’re comfortable, confident and where we want to be, so we’re excited,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “We’ve been confident all year on home ice and obviously the crowd’s been great for us. We’ve just got to use that to our advantage here, go out there tonight and start the same way we’ve been doing and just keep that for the full 60.”
Coming home, the Kings left Edmonton before the Oilers did and returned to their homes as opposed to a hotel. Those are the easy to point out advantages that are on-paper advantages but things that are sometimes more driven in narrative than reality.
The reality is, there are a number of factors here that can help the Kings in Game 5.
With control of line matches, the Kings can dictate how they’d like to set up their forward lines and defensive pairings with the benefit of last change. Not that I thought that was the issue in Games 3 and 4. But it certainly helps, especially when McDavid and Draisaitl are being moved around the lineup as regularly as they are, playing one shift separately and the next loaded up onto the same line. Jim Hiller, while non-committal about ice time distribution, said that being at home could allow for lower minute players to play more than they have in this series.
There’s also the confidence factor. The Kings clearly feel it at home. Coming off two losses, I think that coming home does provide that light at the end of the tunnel in terms of trying to reset and get right back to it. Ultimately, dwelling on losses in Games 3 and 4 won’t get the team anywhere. It’s natural for those of us watching to do so. To analyze, to question, to assess, as should be done when you lose two straight games you led in the third period.
In the room though, while you’re always trying to watch and learn from what went wrong, when you’re in between the boards and the game is going, you can’t be thinking. You just have to play. And I think that right now, being able to focus on that at home is big.
“Obviously both teams have won both games on home ice and it would have been nice to get one on the road, but after losing two, we’re really confident going home,” goaltender Darcy Kuemper said. “We’ve felt great on home ice all year, so it’s going to be a big game.”
Kempe added that the focus from Games 3 and 4 was on all of the good things the Kings did in those games.
3 To Watch For –
– On defenseman Jordan Spence, Jim Hiller confirmed that he will be in tonight’s lineup for Game 5.
There “could” be other changes, per Hiller, but the only one confirmed was Spence.
On Spence, Hiller said that Spence has responded really well throughout the course of the season when he’s sat out a game.
“He’s had different times during the season where he’s sat out, had a reset and come back in and played really well, so that’s all we’re expecting for him. Come back in, give him a little reset, play really well and just contribute where he’s needed.”
The one that stands out was Game 4 of the regular season in Toronto. Spence was given the difficult assignment of taking on much of Drew Doughty’s minutes over the team’s first three games. Didn’t go all that well. Spence sat out the next game in Toronto as a healthy scratch but came back in for Game 5 in Montreal and delivered. He hasn’t really looked back since. The hope for the Kings is the same approach here.
Hiller was non-committal on minutes distribution, for Spence and others, but time on ice distribution in Game 4 clearly did have an impact on the game once it went into overtime, which Hiller said this morning.
The third period was not fatigue-driven but overtime certainly was. The Kings have played, mostly, nine forwards and five defensemen over the first four games. Hiller said it impacted Game 4, but was not concerned the fatigue would carry over into Game 5.
“It probably had an effect,” Hiller said, once the game got to overtime. “It probably had an effect on that game but I don’t think it carries forward to this game.”
Getting more quality minutes throughout the lineup should help if tonight’s game goes beyond the 60 minutes. With Spence and perhaps one more change to be made, leaning into more players for more minutes should help keep everyone fresher, especially when it’s players like Spence, who played bigger roles for 82 games and helped get the team to this point.
– I do have to highlight one player in particular here.
I think Phillip Danault has been perhaps the best Kings player on the ice through four games. Playing his best hockey of the season, certainly, but perhaps his best hockey since he joined the LA Kings in the summer of 2021.
“It’s the best hockey I’ve seen him play, I would take it one step further” Jim Hiller said of Danault, when asked it this has been his best stretch of hockey this season. “He’s blocking shots, winning faceoffs, killing penalties, he’s been really, really good. That’s what you need this time of the year. It’s always great to see players rise above and he’s one of those guys who is doing it.”
Danault has seven points through four games played in this series but he’s impacting things in just about every area of the game, over all 200 feet of the ice. Plus/Minus is whatever but Danault is a +3 in this series despite logging the most minutes thus far against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Feels like every shift, Danault is doing something right. Danault often talks about “little details” in the game as being the most important. When he’s at his best, it’s those little details that stand out to me in his game. To have those be at the highest of levels that I’ve seen, alongside nearly two points per game offensively is so vital.
At home, with the Kings in control of last change, Danault will once again be tasked with the unenviable job of trying to contain 97 and 29, while also pitching in with offensive production. The Kings will need him to continue to do so as well as he has, tonight and beyond.
– Lastly, Insiders, a small injury update here for the Kings.
Forward Tanner Jeannot is skating at Toyota Sports Performance Center, which is good, but there’s no update to his timeline. Per Hiller this morning, there is not a formal injury update here on his status. Still week-to-week, per Hiller, with no status update there, so not expecting him any time soon based on that prognosis.
Kings and Oilers, pivotal Game 5 tonight. Teams that win Game 5 at home, throughout NHL history, have gone on to win 81 percent of those series. Goes without saying it’s a big one tonight in Los Angeles!
