Kings lose to Oilers and fall behind Golden Knights into a wild-card spot
EDMONTON, Canada — Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Kings 4-1 on Thursday night in a matchup of teams jostling for home ice in a possible first-round playoff clash.
Leon Draisaitl had three assists, Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Adam Henrique and Cody Ceci also scored for the Oilers. They are 44-23-4, going 15-2-2 at home since Jan. 1 to move five points up on the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand.
“It’s always hard against these guys. They are as solid as they come,” McDavid said. “They’re structured and responsible. They’re good, it’s always difficult. It requires a patient game, a mature game. I thought we showed that on all levels.”
Anze Kopitar got his 40th assist of the season and scored a goal in the Kings’ win over Canucks and has multiple points in four straight games.
Stuart Skinner made 32 saves, surrendering only Arthur Kaliyev’s goal.
“It’s nice to get this win and have a little more leeway in home-ice advantage,” Skinner said. “But at the same time these guys play hard every single night and know what they have to do against us. It’s always a great battle playing against them. If we face them it will be very exciting.”
The Kings dropped to 38-23-11, falling a point back of Vegas into a wild-card position. The Kings had won four in a row.
“It was a hard game, a lot of battles, a lot of hits from the start,” Kings forward Kevin Fiala said. “It felt like we weren’t that bad, we had good looks and it was a hard battle. There wasn’t anything open for both teams, there were a lot of chips, a lot of forechecks and not much Grade-A chances overall, so I think it was like a playoff game.”
The Oilers started the scoring 5:37 into the opening period with the teams playing four aside when McDavid knocked down Mattias Ekholm’s point shot in front of the net and steered the puck past goalie Cam Talbot.
McDavid extended his points streak to six games with his 27th goal and became just the seventh player in NHL history with 120 points in three consecutive seasons. He added his NHL-leading 94th and 95th assists.
Up next for the Kings: at Calgary on Saturday night.
