The 5-0 implosion of Edmonton Oilers 5-0 Monday evening at Rogers Place cost them a home advantage for the first round of the NHL 2025 qualifiers. Edmonton entered the inclination of Monday evening two points behind the Kings of Los Angeles of second place. A victory would have drawn the two clubs even with 101 points.
However, Connor McDavid’s team collapsed, taking a total of 53 minutes of penalty with bubbling frustration during the second and third periods. It was 4-0 at the end of 40 minutes on the strength of two power goals given by the Oilers.
The victory gave the Los Angeles Kings Home-Glace for its first round meeting with the Oilers of Edmonton in the NHL 2025 qualifying series. This situation means that the Oilers will open onto the road for at least the first two laps.
Edmonton is 22-16-2 on the road this season. Although it is not a bad record, the oilers can regret the abandonment of the advantage of ice at home because the Kings are 31-5-4 at home this year. Conversely, the Kings are 16-19-5 of the crypto.com Arena.
These figures paint a dark image for Connor McDavid and his team. If they had pushed the Kings on Monday evening, the team could have left with a chance to lock for themselves the advantage of the ice at home.
They did not do it, and now they are facing a difficult battle as they seek to take the first two games of the team with the best home record of the NHL this season.
Oilers regretted keeping McDavid out of alignment against kings
The Oilers decided to keep Connor McDavid out of alignment on Monday evening against the Kings. The team decided to rest McDavid, Zach Hyman and Troy Stecher, with Leon Draisaitl, Trent Frederic and Jake Walman who are still breastfeeding injuries.
The result was the disastrous loss against the Kings, which cost them an advantage at home. It is obvious that Edmonton focuses more on the NHL 2025 qualifiers at this stage than winning their remaining competitions in the regular season.
However, Edmonton did not see the situation as a whole. In McDavid sitting, among others accustomed, the team opened the door to the demolition they faced on Monday evening. This does not mean that the club has frozen a bad team.
But when Mattias Janmark plays the role of second line center, the team launches with 11 attackers and does not freeze a complete program, something is certainly not going.
Edmonton is now backing up in the playoffs, going 6-4-1 in the past 10 times. If the match on Monday evening was an indication, the team will be seated as many regulars as possible during their regular season final against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday evening. This situation could mean that the club loses another match, potentially derailing any positive momentum before the NHL qualifiers in 2025.
Edited by Nestor Quixtan
