Sports
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.”
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.
(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.
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.
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.”
The playoffs will determine if it was anything more than that.
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After a slow first round at Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia on Thursday, pace of play was a point of emphasis at the PGA Championship on Friday.
However, when an official approached Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley, they became animated.
Thomas, a longtime Team USA Ryder Cup member, and Bradley, last year’s United States captain, were on the fourth hole when they were approached by an official in a cart, and the conversation quickly turned into finger-pointing.
Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley watch from the tenth green during the second round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 2026. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Thomas said after the round that he, Bradley and fellow USA Ryder Cupper Cameron Young, who won the Cadillac Championship earlier this month, were put on the clock, with the official telling them to pick up the pace. However, both Bradley and Thomas appeared to point at the group in front of them.
“We just didn’t really agree with it,” Thomas said, citing course conditions, high winds and tough pins. “We were behind. That wasn’t our issue… It’s just the fact that we weren’t holding up the group behind us.”
Thomas said they were caught up with the pace on the very next hole.
Justin Thomas plays his shot on the 15th tee during the second round of the PGA Championship in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
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Thomas had a lengthy conversation with the official, while Bradley appeared to make his point short and sweet — though he was definitely not happy with the call.
It is a large PGA Championship field, with 156 golfers at the course and groups even starting their rounds on the back nine. The scores have also been rather high, with just 25 players below par at the time of publishing.
Aronimink also features a shared tee box on 1 and 10, holes 9 and 17 crossing paths, and a lengthy par-3 eighth hole that’s causing problems. Three par-3s are over 200 yards on the course, and there is also a 457-yard par 4 on the fourth.
Keegan Bradley prepares to putt on the 14th green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on May 14, 2026. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
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As Chris Gotterup put it on Friday, “You’re not going to get any four-and-a-half hour rounds out here.”
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The Sparks are finally in the win column, but the outcome was in doubt late Friday night.
Behind double-digit scoring from all five starters, the Sparks had by far their best offensive showing of the season, shooting 63.8% during a 99-95 win over the expansion Toronto Tempo.
The Tempo didn’t make things easy, cutting the deficit to two points late and later trailing by just three with 31 seconds remaining and possession of the ball. Marina Mabrey missed a three-point attempt before late Tempo fouls gave the Sparks enough of a cushion to win.
Kelsey Plum nearly claimed a double-double with 27 points and nine assists, while Dearica Hamby had 19 points with seven rebounds and Nneka Ogwumike scored 20 points.
Erica Wheeler, who started in place of Ariel Atkins (concussion), scored 10 points with seven assists and was a plus-16 as the primary ball handler after starting the season two for 16 from the field. That freed up Plum to be in position to score, setting up a much more efficient Sparks offense.
Toronto was shorthanded in the frontcourt without starting center Temi Fagbenle (right shoulder), and the Sparks trio of bigs had a field day with 54 points in the paint.
The Sparks came out firing on Friday, opening with a 17-2 run.
The Tempo went on a 10-0 burst heading into the second quarter but the Sparks countered to maintain momentum and led 46-38 at halftime.
A Wheeler three-pointer early in the third quarter gave the Sparks a 20-point lead. The Tempo cut it to three midway through the fourth while Brittany Sykes (27 points, seven assists) sparked Toronto’s rally. The Tempo put up more shots than the Sparks, 70-58, largely because of a 10-2 offensive-rebounding gap.
Cameron Brink’s 10 points were the only ones provided by the Sparks’ bench, while the Tempo got 42 points from reserves.
Toronto was coming off its first win in franchise history on Wednesday when it defeated Seattle but struggled against a more complete offensive team in the Sparks.
In her return to Los Angeles after winning a national championship with UCLA this spring, Tempo rookie Kiki Rice netted 11 points.
Kate Martin made her Sparks debut as a developmental player with Atkins and Sania Feagin (lower left leg) unavailable and picked up one rebound in six minutes.
The Sparks will face Toronto again on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
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The WNBA season has been in session for about a week, so it is far too early to make assumptions about teams. That doesn’t mean we won’t make them; it’s just too early to really believe it. I lost my first WNBA bet this season, so I’m hoping to avenge that loss here as the Sky take on the Mercury.
The Chicago Sky are one of the most poorly run franchises in basketball. They have had some great names on their team and only one championship to show for it.
Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner shoots over Indiana Fever guard Aerial Powers in the first half at PHX Arena. (Rick Scuteri/Imagn Images)
There really isn’t a clear indication of what is wrong with the franchise, but they’ve never been able to retain their talent. Aside from Kamilla Cardoso, I can’t name a player on this team that they’ve actually drafted. They just seem to get good players and then show them the door.
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Even though they’ve had questionable front office decisions, they seem to have put together a solid team for this season – something I didn’t expect before the season started.
They are 2-0, which is too early to really say they are a good team. I also want to reserve judgment until they face a team with a longer history than last year. The Portland Tempo played their first-ever game against the Sky, and Golden State was good last year, but still is in just their second season of existence.
The Phoenix Mercury are actually considered one of the best franchises in the league. I’m sure there are issues that people have reported, but for the most part, they have good facilities, and people want to play for their team. They made it all the way to the WNBA Finals last season before falling to the Las Vegas Aces. This year, they are looking to restart that journey and see if they can win the last game of the year.
Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper dribbles the ball in the second half at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2025. (Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images)
It will need to come with some better play than they’ve shown through three games this year. They are just 1-2 for the year with a 0-1 home record. The lone win was a blowout victory over the Aces (a clear revenge game if we’ve ever seen one). Then they lost the next two games against Golden State and Minnesota. Losing to the Lynx wouldn’t be a problem, but they didn’t have Napheesa Collier, who still has an ankle injury.
I expect the Mercury to make some adjustments for this game. They haven’t looked very crisp to begin the year, but they’ve been strong on offense, averaging 87 points per game.
The Sky are going to keep relying on their offense to do just enough and their defense to lock in. The Sky do have an edge on the interior, so they can get buckets fairly easily down low. I like the over 166.5 in this game.
Chicago Sky guard Skylar Diggins chases the ball during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on May 13, 2026. (Bob Kupbens/Imagn Images)
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I also think it is worth betting on Kahleah Copper to go over her point total. Copper had two rough games before she broke out in the last game. Now she has the same sight lines and can attack the bigs from the Sky with her athleticism. Since going to Phoenix, she has scored 29, 7, 16, 25 and 28 points in five games against them.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
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