Kings shut out by Oilers for 2nd straight loss

EDMONTON, Alberta — Two of the NHL’s most consistent teams since Thanksgiving, the Kings and Edmonton Oilers added another chapter to their ongoing rivalry.

Connor McDavid scored the game’s only goal and the Edmonton Oilers edged the Kings, 1-0, on Monday night for their second straight win.

Stuart Skinner stopped 30 shots to earn his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career as the Oilers won for the sixth time in seven games to move ahead of the Kings into second place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers are four points behind first-place Vegas.

Darcy Kuemper finished with 29 saves for the Kings, who have lost two straight after a five-game winning streak.

“It was obviously a tight game and tight checking. Any chance was going to win it, and it turned out that way,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar told NHL.com. “I thought we had a good start and then maybe didn’t maintain that tempo throughout the whole game, but the first period was good. But we couldn’t get anything on the board, so we’ve got to make sure that we give Darcy some run support.”

The Kings fell to 13-4-2 since Nov. 27 for a .737 points percentage. Edmonton, which has eliminated the Kings in the first round of the NHL playoffs the past three seasons, improved to a league-best 16-4-1 (.786) over the same stretch.

Edmonton finally broke the scoreless deadlock during a 4-on-4 situation with 1:23 left in the second period when Leon Draisaitl won a race for the puck and took it behind the net before feeding it in front to a pinching Darnell Nurse. Kuemper made the save on Nurse’s blast, but the rebound came to McDavid and he deposited his 17th goal of the season into the Kings’ net.

It was McDavid’s 72nd game-winning goal, tying Glenn Anderson for the most in franchise history.

“It’s always that way with L.A., always that kind of grinding, low-scoring, low-event hockey,” McDavid told NHL.com. “We know how to play these games with them. I thought we maybe beat them at their own game today. Just playing patient, finding a way to get one, and holding on for a win.”

The Kings had the game’s first strong scoring opportunity, as Adrian Kempe and Kopitar came streaking down the ice on a two-on-one just under five minutes into the first period, but Skinner slid across the crease and robbed Kempe of a goal before the puck trickled onto the top of the net.

McDavid, celebrating his 28th birthday, was held in check for most of the first period but found himself open with 4:58 left while on the power play.

The superstar took a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and got off a close-in shot that was turned aside by Kuemper.

The Kings’ Quinton Byfield appeared poised to break the deadlock with 14:31 left in the second period. After taking the puck away from Draisaitl, he stormed down the ice before zipping his snap shot off the crossbar.

With 4:34 left in the middle frame, Mattias Ekholm saw his opportunity to notch the game’s first goal.

After some pretty passing from his teammates, the Oilers defenseman loaded up and wired a slap shot off the post.

The Oilers continued to apply pressure on the Kings, and just over a minute later, Nugent-Hopkins was unable to score on a slot shot but had the rebound bounce back off him and just over the net.

Then, with just 1:23 remaining in the second, McDavid struck.

Kings forward Alex Laferriere, who had been assessed a penalty for holding which offset the roughing minor on Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen, didn’t play another shift the rest of the game.

“One really poor penalty by Laferriere,” Kings coach Jim Hiller told NHL.com. “It was a really bad penalty even though it got evened up.

“That was probably the moment in the game I liked the least. But other than that, we played hard.”

With just under 15 minutes left in the third period, Viktor Arvidsson fed an open Draisaitl, but Kuemper kicked out his pad to keep the Kings’ deficit at one.

McDavid later nearly scored his second goal of the night with the net empty, but his shot rang off the post.

Kuemper came into the game with a 12-2-5 record, a stingy 2.16 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. He had earned at least a point in his 10 previous appearances, just the fourth goalie in franchise history to do so and the first since Robb Stauber in 1992.

NOTABLE

McDavid ended up tied for third in NHL history for points by the time he hit age 28 with Detroit Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman (1,040 points) – although McDavid reached the mark in 73 fewer games. Only Wayne Gretzky (1,773) and Mario Lemieux (1,174) had more points by the time they hit 28.

UP NEXT

The Kings play at Vancouver on Thursday at 7 p.m.