Oilers at Kings, Western Conference 1st Round Game 1 preview

LOS ANGELES -- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will be in the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers against the Los Angeles Kings for Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Crypto.com Arena on Monday (10 p.m. ET; FDSNW, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN).

It will be the first time both forwards are in the lineup together since March 18.

Draisaitl will play his first game since sustaining a lower-body injury during a 3-2 win at the San Jose Sharks on April 3 and missing the last seven games of the regular season. Draisaitl won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for leading the NHL with 52 goals in 71 games.

McDavid played four of the last five games of the regular season after missing eight games because of a lower-body injury sustained during a 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on March 20. He had 100 points (26 goals, 74 assists) in 67 games.

This is the fourth consecutive season Edmonton and Los Angeles will play in the first round. Edmonton won the three previous best-of-7 series, but for the first time during this span does not have home-ice advantage.

Los Angeles finished second in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of Edmonton. The Kings won three of their four games against the Oilers this season. Los Angeles won at home 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 28 and 3-0 on April 5, and 5-0 in Edmonton on April 14. The Oilers won 1-0 at home on Jan. 13.

Edmonton has won the past six playoff series against Los Angeles and eight of 10 overall. The Kings' last series victory against the Oilers was the 1989 Smythe Division Semifinals.

Here is a breakdown of Game 1:

Oilers: Along with Draisaitl, forward Zach Hyman will return after missing the final three games of the regular season because of an undisclosed injury, and defenseman Jake Walman will play after sitting out the final five games, also because of an undisclosed injury. Forward Trent Frederic, who is recovering from a high-ankle sprain, will be a game-time decision, coach Kris Knoblauch said. Frederic played one game since he was acquired from the Boston Bruins in a three-team trade also involving the New Jersey Devils on March 4. He had 7:10 of ice time in a 3-0 loss at the Kings on April 5 before re-aggravating the injury. Defenseman Brett Kulak is expected to be back from Canmore, Alberta, in time for the game. The defenseman left the team to join his wife for the birth of their second child. Goalie Stuart Skinner will start. He played two of the last three games of the regular season after sitting out eight games because of a head injury sustained during a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on March 26.

Kings: Goalie Darcy Kuemper will start Game 1. He is the fourth goalie to start a series against the Oilers during the past four years, following Cam Talbot (2024), Joonas Korpisalo (2023) and Jonathan Quick (2022). Kuemper was 31-11-7 with a 2.02 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and five shutouts in 50 games this season. Forward Adrian Kempe led the Kings with 73 points (35 goals, 38 assists) in 81 games. Center Anze Kopitar had 67 points (21 goals, 46 assists) in 81 games. The Kings (31-6-4) had the best home record in the NHL this season. Los Angeles is looking for its first playoff series victory since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.

Number to know: 66. That is the number of points McDavid and Draisaitl have combined for (25 goals, 41 assists) in 18 playoff games against Los Angeles. McDavid has 36 points (eight goals, 28 assists) and Draisaitl has 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists).

What to look for: How will Edmonton fare without defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who has been ruled out for the series because of an undisclosed injury? Can Los Angeles improve its power play in the playoffs? The Kings were 27th in the NHL this season at 17.9 percent, while the Oilers were 12th at 23.7 percent.

What they are saying

"When you have those two guys, anything is possible. They're two of the best players in the world, they're so dynamic together, especially on the power play. So it's nice to have them both back for sure." -- Oilers forward Connor Brown on having McDavid and Draisaitl in the lineup

"We know them better and better every year. We know what they do and what they want to do, and we try to keep preparing ourselves for that. The past three seasons haven't been good enough, but I think this is the best team we've had since maybe I got here (2016-17). I think we're well prepared, everybody is in the right mindset and we're ready to roll." -- Kings forward Adrian Kempe on playing the Oilers for the fourth straight year in the first round

Oilers projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Connor McDavid -- Connor Brown

Vasily Podkolzin -- Leon Draisaitl -- Viktor Arvidsson

Jeff Skinner -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Kasperi Kapanen

Mattias Janmark -- Adam Henrique -- Corey Perry

Darnell Nurse -- Evan Bouchard

Brett Kulak -- Jake Walman

Ty Emberson -- Joshua Brown

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: Derek Ryan, Max Jones, Cam Dineen

Injured: Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Trent Frederic (ankle), Evander Kane (hip, knee), John Klingberg (lower body), Troy Stecher (undisclosed)

Kings projected lineup

Andrei Kuzmenko -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe

Warren Foegele -- Phillip Danault -- Trevor Moore

Kevin Fiala -- Quinton Byfield -- Alex Laferriere

Jeff Malott -- Samuel Helenius -- Alex Turcotte

Mikey Anderson -- Drew Doughty

Vladislav Gavrikov -- Jordan Spence

Joel Edmundson -- Brandt Clarke

Darcy Kuemper

David Rittich

Scratched: Kyle Burroughs, Akil Thomas, Pheonix Copley, Jacob Moverare, Trevor Lewis

Injured: Tanner Jeannot (undisclosed)

Status report

Defensemen Ekholm and Stecher have been ruled out for Game 1. Ekholm will not play at all during the series. … Frederic, a forward, will be a game-time decision. … The Kings held an optional morning skate. … Copley, a goaltender, was recalled on an emergency basis from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Jeannot, a forward, remains week to week.

NHL.com independent correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report