Ted Donato was born in Boston and played nine of his 13 NHL seasons with the Bruins, so he was raised to see the Bruins-Canadiens playoff series as a rite of spring, one just as iconic — and almost as frequent — as the Boston Marathon or opening day at Fenway Park.
The two teams have met 34 times in the postseason, making it the most common matchup in NHL playoff history. But that familiarity has hardly bred contempt.
“I loved it,” said Donato, who had three goals and four assists in 13 playoff appearances against Montreal. “For someone who grew up as a fan, those were the games that you always looked forward to.”
Read more: ‘I think we owe them.’ Kings eager to flip the script with Oilers in the NHL playoffs
The Oilers and Kings have also become regular partners on the Stanley Cup playoff calendar. When they face off Monday in Edmonton, it will mark the 10th time they’ve met in the playoffs and the third time in as many seasons. And while that series has a long way to go to match the history of Montreal-Boston, the rivalry has already built a passion all its own — especially since Edmonton has eliminated the Kings the last five times they’ve met, including the last two seasons.
“There’s a redemption. You want to redeem yourself,” said Kings broadcaster Jim Fox, who played in three playoff series against the Oilers. “I’m sure there’s guys in the room — I would assume there’s guys in the room — that want to beat Edmonton because they’ve lost two years in a row.
“That doesn’t mean they want to play Edmonton. It means they want to beat Edmonton. It’s not a preference to play them. It’s a desire that they want to prove that they can do it.”
Because they haven’t done it very often.
Including playoffs, the Kings and Oilers have met 25 times in the last three seasons — no two teams have played as often — with the Kings winning only nine of those games.
So would the Kings, who haven’t won a first-round playoff series against any team since 2014 and haven’t won a series with Edmonton since 1989, Wayne Gretzky’s first season in Los Angeles, have been better off opening the postseason somewhere else?
“It’s a great question,” said Fox,…