PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kings

Arvidsson will now take on his former team in Los Angeles for the first time since signing with the Oilers last season as a free agent, while Saturday’s matinee will also mark Warren Foegele’s first game against Edmonton since joining the Kings.

Foegele posted 45 goals and 50 assists over 231 games in Edmonton and has 18 points (nine goals) in 34 games this season in his first season with LA.

Connor McDavid has posted 16 goals and 26 assists over 32 career games against the Kings. During 18 career playoff games with LA, he has posted a remarkable 36 points over 18 games, including eight goals. Over his last 13 regular season and playoff games against the Kings, he has multiple point games in ten of them.

Including the playoffs, Leon Draisaitl is riding a seven-point streak against the Kings, where he has posted six goals and nine assists. All but one of those games were multi-point efforts.

For Zach Hyman, it’s much more of the same, scoring seven goals over his last five games against LA, including a hat trick during Game of their 2024 Playoff series. After a slow start to this season, Hyman now leads all skaters with 10 goals in December.

“If you’ve played a long time, you know it’s about the process and getting your chances and being around it,” Hyman said. “And so I think you can find confidence in a number of ways.”

Expected to start for the Oilers, Stuart Skinner is 5-1-0 with a .952 SV% and a 1.49 GAA in his last six starts vs. the Kings, with a shutout on March 30, 2023.

Darcy Kuemper is expected to make his first start vs. Edmonton since being traded to the Kings from Washington on June 19. Kuemper has a 10-3-4 record in 17 games with a 2.48 GAA and a .918 SV% over his career against the Oilers.