Mike Babcock isn't taking the winless Kings lightly, and the Oilers coach made sure his group knows it before tonight's game in Los Angeles.
“Every night you play you have to assume the other team's really hungry, and you got to get ready to play,” Babcock said, according to Michael Menzies.
“As much as it's about them, it's about us and our preparation and being ready here to go tonight.”
“And they're going to make it hard on us, and we understand that going in. So let's get prepared and do things right.”
He's right to worry. This is exactly the kind of game a hot team drops when it reads the standings instead of the scouting report.
It's like a final exam in a class you've been acing. The easy grade makes you lazy right before the hardest question.
Edmonton is 4-0-1 and riding a four-game winning streak, with a perfect record on the road.
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Oilers rule out Hyman and Walman as Devon Levi starts against Kings
Los Angeles is 0-2-2, and three of its four losses have come by a single goal.
The latest was a 2-1 overtime loss in Vegas on Saturday.
Artemi Panarin has 3 goals on an $11,000,000 cap hit.
Darcy Kuemper sits at .868, and Anton Forsberg is at .800.
The Kings have allowed 17 goals, so there should be chances for a team scoring like Edmonton.
Quinton Byfield sits at -4 on a $6,250,000 cap hit.
Mats Zuccarello is out until at least Oct 20, and Alex Turcotte until at least Oct 17.
Connor McDavid has 13 points, and Evan Bouchard has 12.
Leon Draisaitl adds 9 points of his own.
Vasily Podkolzin has 5 goals, one more reason this group is scoring 5.0 a game.
Devon Levi is 3-0 despite an .863 save percentage.
Zach Hyman and Jake Walman are both listed day-to-day.
Can the Oilers avoid handing a desperate team its first win?
Utah visits Edmonton on Thursday.
Babcock has the right message. The Oilers just need to make sure they were actually listening.
Will the Kings get their first win of the season against the Oilers tonight?
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