Why can’t the Kings beat the Oilers? A familiar pattern emerges [Video]

EDMONTON, Canada — Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the summer is starting early for the Kings after a first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

This one is a little different, though, because this was a season that had inspired rare promise before it ended Thursday in the same painful monotony as the last three, with the Oilers going on and the Kings going home.

And that’s particularly disappointing since the Kings tied franchise records for wins (48) and points (105) and set one for home victories (31) this season. Yet it ended with the team breaking another record: it has now gone 11 seasons without winning a playoff series, the longest drought in team history.

A postseason in which the Kings seemed primed for a long run lasted just six games, the last a 6-4 loss to the Oilers at Rogers Placethat leaves the organization once again shuffling off …