The Los Angeles Kings are entering the final week of the regular season and know they will be playing hockey after this week in the NHL Playoffs and who they are playing. That has also been decided and for the fourth straight year they will be facing the Edmonton Oilers.
The only thing that hasn't been decided is who will have home ice but the magic number is down to two points. The only way the Kings would lose that is if the Oilers were to win out and the Kings were to lose their remaining games in regulation.
However, with how the LA Kings have played recently that would be really surprising and for the other teams in the Western Conference, this might be the last team they want to play.
LA Kings offense has come alive in the past few weeks of the regular season
For most of the season, the Kings have been one of the top defensive teams in the league. They have allowed the second fewest goals in the league with an average of only 2.44 goals per game and the Winnipeg Jets are the only team better than the Kings at 2.31 goals allowed per game.
What has made the LA Kings even more formidable is that the offense has caught up to their defense. The Kings have finally started scoring goals while continuing to play at a high level defensively.
In the past 13 games, the Kings are 10-3 and have scored four or more goals in seven of those games. On the season, the Kings have averaged three goals per game but that average has jumped almost a whole goal as they have averaged 3.76 goals per game during this stretch.
For most of the season, Adrian Kempe has had to shoulder most of the scoring but the Kings have had players like Quinton Byfield (three straight games with a goal) and Kevin Fiala (four goals in the past two games) really help in this area. The addition of Andrei Kuzmenko at the trade deadline has helped in this area and he has 11 assists in the past 12 games, including five on the power play.
The LA Kings are going to have to battle ghosts of playoff past and will have to put behind them the fact that the Oilers have beaten them in the playoffs each of the past three seasons. However, if they continue to play like they have to close the regular season, they got a great chance to advance to the second round.