PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kings

The Edmonton Oilers conclude a back-to-back road set in California on Tuesday night at the Crypto.com Arena against the Los Angeles Kings.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet One & West or listen on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Video: OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game at LA 02.15.22

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS
GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game at LA
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Warren Foegele
RECENT VIDEOS
OILERS TODAY: Post-Game vs. SJ
RECAP: Oilers 3, Sharks 0
POST-RAW | Stuart Skinner
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Kings Statistics
Head-to-Head
Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Sharks 0
GENE'S BLOG: Happy Valentine's Day
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Tuesday's game on Sportsnet One & West at 8:30 PM MT.
News and notes from Oilers practice at Rogers Place on Saturday, including Jay Woodcroft implementing his plan as Head Coach during his first full practice with the group.
**>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG**
LOS ANGELES, CA - Every game from here on out is a big one.
"We're coming down the wire here," forward Warren Foegele said Tuesday morning.
The Edmonton Oilers, fresh off last night's 3-0 shutout of the San Jose Sharks, will look to keep themselves fresh physically and maintain their positive play under Head Coach Jay Woodcroft in the second game of a back-to-back on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings at the Crypto.com Arena.
The Blue & Orange are 2-0 under their new bench boss since his appointment last Thursday, with the potential for Woodcroft to become the first coach in franchise history to win his first three games with the club.
The Oilers are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games following a tough 2-12-2 stretch before defeating the Calgary Flames back in mid-January. Tonight, they'll have the opportunity to leap the Kings and Anaheim Ducks into third place in the Pacific Division if they can complete the perfect California back-to-back with a win.
"Every game is so important, and we need these two points," Foegele said. "Woody's been mentioning just focusing on the day, and today, we focus on today. These points mean a lot."
"I think it's just being simple early on with quick shifts trying to get everyone engaged. If we can have the same effort that we did last night, there's no reason we can't have the same outcome."
Video: PRE-RAW | Warren Foegele 02.15.22
Woodcroft is navigating his team through the first back-to-back of his tenure as head coach of the club, holding no morning skate and instead choosing to go with the 'less is more' approach focusing on rest and recovery to keep his team in the best shape possible to perform against a Kings team that has sat idle for nearly two weeks since the start of the NHL All-Star break.
"For me, preparing for a back-to-back, you want to make sure you're getting the proper rest and recovery time frame in there," Woodcroft said. "You don't want to be setting meetings early in the morning or unnecessarily skating if you don't have to. We want to manage our energy reservoir and make sure that our players are able to fire on all cylinders.
"When it comes to game time, I think these types of situations you rely on structure. In my experience in back-to-back situations, you rely on that structure protecting everybody and you want their skills to come out within the team game plan."
OUT OF THE FOEG
Marred in a 17-game slump without a goal, Foegele will take any bounce he can get to break the schneid.
The 25-year-old winger was in the right place in front of the Sharks net on Monday night for Evan Bouchard's point shot to take a double deflection off Derek Ryan's stick and his leg before finding the back of the net on Edmonton's opening shot of the game.
"It's a relief just to finally contribute in that way," Foegele said. "Anytime you can contribute, it feels nice. The bounces haven't really been there, but I'll take that bounce."
It hasn't been for a lack of trying for Foegele, who's been developing chemistry on the left wing of the third line with Ryan and Nugent-Hopkins. The trio was a plus-2 on Tuesday night and contributed some much-welcomed secondary scoring after helping the Oilers quickly took command of the game early with two goals in 1:05 of the first period.
"I'm obviously playing with two great guys," Foegele said. "Both are really smart players, and I thought yesterday it was nice to contribute there. We're still trying to get used to each other, but I thought we had a lot of good shifts."
DEFEND TOGETHER
Woodcroft is seeing his five-man approach to protecting the defensive zone come to fruition.
The bench boss has preached a team effort when it comes to defending the blueline - playing as a connected five-man unit with a relentless work ethic coming back to the d-zone.
"Through two games, there are a lot of positive signs," Woodcroft said.
Video: PRE-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 02.15.22
On Monday, coupled with great goaltending, it led to Edmonton's first shutout of the season.
"First of all, I'd say we've got some really good goaltending from both Mike Smith and Stuart Skinner," Woodcroft said. "That's always the key thing to putting up good defensive numbers is that type of goaltending, and they've both been excellent for us. We've put a lot of import on our defensive game.
The minutes between defencemen were well spread by Assistant Coach Dave Manson, ranging from Philip Broberg's 14:08 of ice time to Darnell Nurse's 23:11 that represents a reduction to the defender who's been a regular over the years near the top of the NHL in average time on ice.
"Our D played so solid last night," Foegele said. "I thought we held the line really well. With Woody here, there's a lot of attention to detail and direction. It makes a huge difference out there when everyone knows what they're doing. It was a hell of a team effort."
LINEUP NOTES
Mike Smith will start the second of the back-to-back after Stuart Skinner turned in 20 saves for his first NHL shutout on Monday night against San Jose.
Other than in between the pipes, Woodcroft has yet to determine if he'll shake up the lines or defence pairings out of necessity in his first back-to-back situation as head coach of the Oilers.
"All options are on the table lineup-wise for us tonight," he said. "It's my first situation with this group in terms of a back-to-back situation. I'm going to sit down and discuss things further with our coaching staff."
Lineup changes will be made apparent during warm-ups.
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com
OILERS vs. KINGS
STREAM: 8:30 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet One & West
Oilers Team Scope
Stuart Skinner earned his first NHL shutout on Monday night when the Oilers opened their back-to-back set in California with a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Evander Kane's first trip back to the SAP Center as a member of the Oilers.
"We asked our players that we felt we needed a full 60 minutes, and I thought we played a full 60 minutes," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "There were times when the other team had some chances, but we really liked the commitment to the defensive side of the puck, the commitment to working back to our end, and it was impressive to see those players put in the work that they put in.
"It's not easy to play like that, but they did a good job for us tonight."
Warren Foegele and Connor McDavid both got on the board, and Darnell Nurse notched his 50th career NHL goal as the Oilers improved to 25-18-3 on the season heading into Crypto.com Arena.
With games in hand on the teams around them, the Oilers would leapfrog the Kings and Ducks into third place in the Pacific Division a win on Tuesday.
Kings Team Scope
It's been nearly two weeks since the Kings last took to the ice when they downed the Detroit Red Wings 5-3 in their final game before the NHL All-Star break.
The Kings are the current holders of third place in the Pacific with 55 points and a 24-16-7 record.
Drew Doughty will be presented with the Silver Stick on Tuesday night to mark his 1,000th game in the NHL. Doughty has appeared in 1,003 NHL games, but Tuesday will be his first game back at Crypto.com Arena after the defender achieved the milestone during an extended six-game road trip.
By The Numbers
The Oilers are 7-4-0 in their last 11 games against the Kings and have won seven of their last 10 games (7-2-1)... The Oilers are averaging 3.18 goals per game this season, which ranks 12th in the NHL, while averaging 3.27 goals against per game this season which ranks 23rd in the NHL... The Oilers are 12-8-3 on the road this season...
A total of 14 of Leon Draisaitl's 33 goals this season have come on the power play as he sits second in the League for power-play goals... The German has scored seven goals in his last 10 games and has eight game-winning goals this campaign... McDavid needs one assist to tie Doug Weight for the sixth-most in Oilers history... McDavid has 26 points (9G, 17A) in 21 career games versus the Kings...
The Kings are 14-6-3 in their last 23 games but have lost two-straight games at home... Doughty's 1,003 games played since his debut in 2008-09 are third-most among defencemen... He has 24 points (5G, 19A) in 28 games this season and 13 points (3G, 10A) in nine games against Oilers since the start of the 2018-19 season...
Injury Report
OILERS - Kris Russell (undisclosed) is on IR; Mikko Koskinen (COVID-19 Protocol) is day-to-day; Duncan Keith (upper body) is out 2-to-4 weeks; Zack Kassian (fractured jaw) is out 4-to-8 weeks.
KINGS - Matt Roy (COVID-19 Protocol) is day-to-day... Mikey Anderson (upper body) is on IR... Lias Andersson (undisclosed) is on IR... Alexander Edler (ankle) is on IR... Sean Walker (torn ACL/MCL) is on IR...
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com