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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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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

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Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida.  (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.

Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.

It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.

In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.

Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.

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Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.

After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June. 

But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract. 

White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card. 

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Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City.  ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))

“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”

White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it. 

UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT

The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan. 

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On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter. 

UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026.  (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready. 

“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”

Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.

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Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote. 

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.

Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion. 

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