The oilers playoffs picture is now settled after Thursday’s final day of the NHL regular season, with the Edmonton Oilers locking in a home first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks. The Los Angeles Kings also reached the postseason as the West’s second wild-card team, setting up a matchup with the Colorado Avalanche. The outcome ended a day in which three Western Conference teams were still chasing the exact finishing spots that would shape the bracket.
Final-day results settle the West
Edmonton defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-1 on Thursday to secure its spot at home against Anaheim in the first round. The Ducks beat the Nashville Predators 5-4, which pushed the Kings into the playoffs as the West’s second wild-card team and sent them to face Colorado. Shortly after the Canucks-Oilers game ended, Los Angeles fell 3-1 to the Calgary Flames in its season finale.
Thursday began with uncertainty across the Western Conference. Edmonton, Anaheim and Los Angeles had all already clinched playoff spots, but their exact seeding was still open, with all three teams able to finish second or third in the Pacific Division or land as the second wild card in the West. By the end of the night, the entire Western Conference bracket was set.
Oilers playoffs: what changed on the final day
The oilers playoffs path became clear only after a combination of results fell into place across multiple games. Edmonton’s win over Vancouver gave the Oilers the finish they needed for the home series against Anaheim. The Ducks’ victory over Nashville kept them in the bracket as Edmonton’s opponent, while Los Angeles’ loss to Calgary ended its bid for a higher Pacific Division seed.
That sequence also fixed the other Western Conference First Round matchup, with Colorado set to play Los Angeles. The bracket had been the last major unresolved piece in the Western Conference entering Thursday, and the final-day results removed every remaining question.
What the matchup history says
The Oilers and Ducks last met in the playoffs in 2017, the first postseason appearance for Connor McDavid. Anaheim had ended a seven-year playoff drought this spring in its first season under head coach Joel Quenneville.
The Kings and Avalanche have not met in the postseason since the 2001 and 2002 campaigns. Both of those series went seven games, and Colorado won both.
What comes next
With the bracket now confirmed, attention shifts fully to the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday. The oilers playoffs storyline now centers on Edmonton’s home series against Anaheim and what the final-day results mean for the rest of the Western Conference field.
