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Is this the season the Kings avenge years of playoff agony against Oilers?

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Is this the season the Kings avenge years of playoff agony against Oilers?

The Kings have seen each of the last three seasons end in first-round playoff losses to the Edmonton Oilers. And if the current NHL season had ended Saturday, guess who the Kings would face in the first round of the playoffs?

That made Saturday’s matinee at Crypto.com Arena, the first meeting of the season between the teams, an important measuring stick for the Kings and a chance to put down a marker against the Oilers, who could once again determine their fate next spring in Edmonton, right?

“I don’t know,” Kings forward Phillip Danault shrugged before the game. “No matter what you do during the regular season, I don’t know if they affect anything. When we get to the playoffs, it’s totally another game.”

Kings coach Jim Hiller agreed. If anyone thought the Kings were hoping to stare across the ice, look the Oilers in the eyes and throw down the gauntlet, he wasn’t among them.

“We’re not going to get that far ahead,” he said. “It’s a team in our division that we’ve had problems with, that we want to beat. I wouldn’t make it a bigger deal.”

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Which isn’t to say the Kings’ 4-3 overtime win, one in which they rallied from deficits twice, was meaningless. Far from it. Because the victory, on Quinton Byfield’s second goal of the game, not only tied the teams for second in the Pacific Division standings, it also confirmed the gap between the two teams on the ice may be closing as well.

The Oilers have clearly become the Kings’ white whale, the foe who must be vanquished. As a result, every faceoff, every forecheck, every shot on goal was imbued with extra meaning — whether the players and coach wanted to admit it or not.

“Everyone knows it’s our rivalry,” Danault said.

The Kings and Oilers have met 10 times in the playoffs, with Edmonton winning the series eight times. In NHL history only one team — the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have beaten the Washington Capitals nine times in 11 tries — has faced the same opponent in at least seven playoff series and had more success.

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner gives up the winning goal in overtime in front of Kings forward Phillip Danault on Saturday.

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(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The last time the Kings beat Edmonton in the postseason, Wayne Gretzky led the team in points. That was 1989.

And the regular-season meetings have been almost as one-sided in recent years, with the Oilers winning three of four games last season and 10 of the last 15 dating to 2019. That changed Saturday, just as the teams have changed.

The Kings, who have switched the way they play in the neutral zone and on the penalty kill since last season’s postseason debacle, also added seven players since their last meeting with the Oilers at the Crypt eight months ago. Edmonton has parted with 10 players over the same period.

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Winger Warren Foegele is on both those lists, having spent three seasons in Edmonton before signing a three-year free-agent contract with the Kings last summer. “They’ve got new pieces, we’ve gotten new pieces,” he said.

Some of those new pieces played a part in the outcome Saturday with Foegele getting a goal and two assists for the Kings, who also got a goal from newcomer Tanner Jeannot. Kasperi Kapanen, claimed by the Oilers on waivers a month ago, and former King Viktor Arvidsson accounted for two of Edmonton’s three goals.

Kapanen got the scoring started, banging home the rebound of a long Connor Brown wrister midway through the first period. Byfield matched that less than three minutes later, digging the puck out from the end boards and scoring on a wrister from the edge of the right faceoff circle. Foegele, credited with an assist on that goal, then put the Kings ahead just before the first intermission with some unintentional help from Brown, who got his skate in the way of a centering pass, deflecting the puck to Foegele, who swept it by goalie Stuart Skinner.

The Oilers needed less than four minutes of the second period to erase that deficit with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring on a power play just 12 seconds after Alex Laferriere went off for tripping. In last spring’s playoffs, nine of the Oilers’ 22 goals against the Kings came with the man advantage.

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Arvidsson gave Edmonton the lead again on a wrister from between the circles after Leon Draisaitl stripped defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov of the puck deep in the Kings’ end with eight minutes left in the second period. But the Kings would not quit, with Jeannot evening the game again by redirecting in a Jordan Spence pass from the edge of the crease 2½ minutes into the third, setting the stage for Byfield’s winner 3:19 into the extra period.

Seconds before Byfield’s shot, Skinner asked the officials for a stoppage in play because of a problem with his mask. He didn’t get it, with the Kings getting their first win in six overtime games instead.

Hiller, however, stuck to the script, refusing to call the game anything other than just another date on the schedule.

“It’s so tempting to do that, right? Based on the results,” he said. “If we lost, we would have been saying, ‘lost again to Edmonton. Overtime too. Terrible.’ So it’s really hard to separate.

“It was an important game for us, for sure [and] a pretty entertaining hockey game. Probably the best or most entertaining of the year.”

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The playoffs will determine if it was anything more than that.

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CM Punk to defend Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam

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CM Punk to defend Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam

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CM Punk appeared on “Friday Night SmackDown” ready to take on any challenger that was ready to step to him after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn.

Punk entered the ring in Oklahoma City and called back to the “Monday Night Raw” after WrestleMania 42 when he told Cody Rhodes he’d be ready to deliver if a championship opportunity fell “out of the sky.”

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Cody Rhodes and CM Punk face off during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)

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“When championship opportunities fall out of the sky, CM Punk catches them,” he said.

Punk named potential SmackDown superstars he’d think might come for the title, including Gunther, Finn Balor, Royce Keys, Damian Priest and Trick Williams. He even said that Zayn could come back around and get his rematch if he wanted. He didn’t mention Rhodes’ name, but the “American Nightmare” came out uncalled and marched his way down to the ring.

“I don’t think you and I can run away from each other anymore,” Punk told Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes looks on during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)

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Rhodes agreed and mentioned that Punk would want a match with him, just “say when.” It was a quick retort from Punk, who said, “when.” SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who was in the ring for the segment, booked the match for SummerSlam.

Punk will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam, which takes place Aug. 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

First, however, Punk and Rhodes will be involved in a tag team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City next week. Aldis made the match after Gunther demanded that Aldis put him in a match against Punk. Gunther was hoping it would be for the championship. Instead, Gunther will tag with Zayn.

Gunther didn’t take too kindly to that and attacked Aldis. Rhodes came back out to break up the calamity. He wanted to take on Gunther after the show went off air but Gunther walked away.

Gunther makes his entrance during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images)

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Punk definitely has his hands full as he moves to SmackDown to become a fighting champion.

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World Cup fans flock to In-N-Out, Erewhon and Trader Joe’s for a taste of California

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World Cup fans flock to In-N-Out, Erewhon and Trader Joe’s for a taste of California

World Cup tourists are coming to L.A. for the soccer, but they’re staying for the $21 smoothies and Double-Doubles.

As the last Los Angeles FIFA World Cup event ended Friday, soccer fans were eating like locals and famous chains from the region were cashing in.

In the weeks that L.A. has hosted the World Cup, international soccer enthusiasts have flocked to big brands from the area, often in large groups wearing their countries’ jerseys.

It is a phenomenon seen at many of the host cities. In Dallas, giant gas station Buc-ee’s is the main attraction. For people visiting New Jersey, deli shops have been a hot ticket. In L.A., the place to be between matches was Erewhon.

Thirsty international sports fans gathered for pictures outside different Erewhons, wandered their aisles smiling, and, of course, picked up pricey smoothies.

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While Erewhon would not comment on its business, mobility data company Arity, which uses phone data to track consumers, said Erewhon visits at the outlets around SoFi Stadium were quadruple what they were a week earlier on June 12, the day of the U.S. national soccer team’s opening match there.

Arity looked at what stores people visited within a 10-mile radius of SoFi that day and also found surges in visitors to nearby El Pollo Loco and Trader Joe’s.

Locals have spotted groups of people in Korea jerseys huddled together, trying to decide what to order at In-N-Out.

Some complained on social media that international tourists at Trader Joe’s were buying up all the mini canvas tote bags.

Soon after the Belgium vs. Spain quarterfinal ended Friday, the In-N-Out near SoFi had a long line of soccer fans stretching out the door in bright red and yellow and black jerseys and matching striped hats and scarves.

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One of the workers said he had to explain “spread” and “animal style” to foreign football fans.

“I didn’t know this place existed,” a fan from Romania said while waiting in line.

Los Angeles and other cities and states that have hosted the event need the soccer fans to spend money to make the event worth all the time, effort and money it requires.

A rosy 2024 report projected the World Cup could bring more than $800 million to the L.A. region as 180,000 people converge on the area to sleep, eat and spend.

There were early concerns people weren’t turning up for the event because of the high ticket prices and the difficulty of obtaining visas for citizens of some countries.

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However, at least for some L.A. hotels, there was a surge of last-minute visitors which pushed up occupancy and room rates.

While sports fans are not in the region to shop, they do make time for it.

World Cup customer spending is also apparent in beer sales. Andrew Heritage, the chief economist at the Beer Institute said beer purchases at entertainment and attractions in L.A. – outside of World Cup spaces – were up around 10% from normal.

“That tells me that fans in the L.A. area have decided to extend their stay and take in all the other things that the area has to offer, rather than just the match itself,” he said.

On social media, the purpose of these shoppers is clear: grab a quick souvenir or local specialty and take a selfie.

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The data from Arity suggests that fans are very efficient when they spend at local spots, diving in, getting what they want and getting out as soon as possible, said Jeff Schlitt, a director at the company.

“Normally you’re there for an hour. They’re going to be there for 15, 18 minutes,” he said. “Why is that? Because they were purpose-driven shoppers.”

For some travelers, the more popular American chains aren’t unfamiliar. But some of the native L.A. fare still comes as a surprise.

As one Belgium-Spain matchgoer from the Netherlands stood taking a picture of the In-N-Out sign after the game, he said he’d never had a burger like the one he’d just tried.

“We only have McDonald’s and Burger King,” he said. “It’s way better.”

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Shohei Ohtani ruled out of MLB All-Star Game as Dodgers plan to manage nagging injury

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Shohei Ohtani ruled out of MLB All-Star Game as Dodgers plan to manage nagging injury

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The face of baseball will not be at Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start on Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers said he will also miss the Midsummer Classic with what the team called left knee irritation.

Ohtani, for obvious reasons, has become an All-Star Game fixture. He has earned the honor in each of the past five seasons and made his first start in 2021.

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Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers warms up before the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The two-way phenom is on his way to winning his fifth MVP award in his last six seasons as he is hitting .290 with a .939 OPS and pitching to a minuscule 1.79 ERA, the second-lowest in the sport among pitchers with 80-plus innings. His OPS is also the seventh-best mark in the league.

The Dodgers said Ohtani will be the team’s designated hitter up until the break, but he will “have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season.”

Ohtani dealt with knee issues earlier in the season.

It is certainly a big hit for the game as the other face of the sport, Aaron Judge, will miss the game due to a fractured rib that has kept him out since late May.

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Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets ready in the on deck circle against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 01, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) (Norm Hall/Getty Images)

DODGERS WILL AGAIN VISIT WHITE HOUSE TO CELEBRATE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP, OFFICIAL SAYS

Ohtani hit 99 home runs combined in 2024 and 2025, leading the National League with a 1.025 OPS in that span. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024 after elbow surgery but returned to the bump last year and owned a 2.87 ERA and 11.9 K/9, a figure he also put up in 2022 that led the American League.

The “Japanese Babe Ruth” is the only player in MLB history to have 300-plus plate appearances and 40-plus innings in six separate seasons (Ruth only did it twice and never stole 50 bases), and he has more than excelled at both.

Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)

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Ohtani is not hitting like he has in the past, but certainly the best pitching performance of his career will make up for it. He “only” has 20 homers and 56 RBI this season.

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