PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kings

The Edmonton Oilers vist Crypto.com Arena for their final road game of the regular season & an afternoon Pacific Division matchup on Saturday with the Los Angeles Kings.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:30pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED. Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kings

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Edmonton Oilers look to keep control of their own destiny in the Pacific Division and clinch a playoff spot in their final road game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena against the Los Angeles Kings.

Jason Dickinson will not be available and doesn’t have a timeline for recovery, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said on Friday, after sustaining a lower-body injury and needing to be helped off the ice in the third period of Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Sharks.

Goaltender Connor Ingram, who made 10 saves before being pulled out of precaution for Tristan Jarry to begin the final frame, was a full participant at Friday’s practice in El Segundo and could be back to start on Saturday against the Kings.

Coach Knoblauch wasn’t prepared to name a starter after Friday's practice, where the Oilers deployed some new-look lines that saw Max Jones and Kasperi Kapanen partner up on the second line beside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"Jones has been playing really well throughout the year, and this is an opportunity for him to get a little bit more opportunity," Knoblauch said. "Certainly, we don't want him to get away from his game.  What he's been doing is the reason why we put him up in that spot.  Just simplicity, but more importantly, just the speed of getting into the forecheck and making it hard on the other team, which just makes everyone else's job a little bit easier. We'll see tomorrow how that goes. Hopefully, that's a good line for us."

Edmonton is looking to close its road trip with a win in the final regular-season home game of Anze Kopitar’s career, before hopefully heading home for its final two games next week with the chance to win a division title with a playoff spot already locked in.

Despite the implications, the Oilers are still focused on playing the right way to prepare for a detail-oriented brand of hockey they know will be necessary when the games need that much more in the playoffs after showing that in a 5-2 win over the Sharks on Wednesday.

“First of all, we want to win games to clinch a playoff spot,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We've been playing pretty good hockey the last few weeks, and we want to continue doing that. Obviously, it's important to play good hockey, playoff-style hockey, and that usually means being a little more physical and being more aware of your defensive details.”

“I think we've been doing a pretty good job of that, and we have to continue doing that. Even if we are able to clinch, whatever happens in the last few games, we want to be playing the right style of hockey.”

On the back of a five-point performance from Connor McDavid that included his 15th career hat trick, the Oilers allowed only 14 shots against from the Sharks in a 5-2 win on Wednesday that was a bounce-back from a tough showing in Utah the night before.

"I thought it was a good performance throughout," Kapanen said. "It was a pretty good 60 minutes from everybody. We competed hard. We obviously didn't like the way we lost that game in Utah, so it's kind of just a bounce-back game for us and obviously a big game against them too."

With three games left before the playoffs and a handful of players missing in the likes of Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Jason Dickinson, it's a chance for the rest of the roster to keep building their game the right way towards the postseason over a trio of contests that still hold weight in the standings.

"We're all aware of it, and we want to finish strong here at the last few games and get three wins in three games," Connor Murphy said. "We hold ourselves to a higher standard this time of year to make sure our habits and consistency are there in all aspects of the game, so I think we can stay sharp and have a lot of focus going into these games and knowing what our strengths are when we play to those."