Kings fall a spot in Pacific Division with loss to Oilers
Leon Draisaitl broke a tie with 7:20 left and the Edmonton Oilers vaulted into second place in the Pacific Division with a 3-1 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night in a pivotal game for playoff seeding.
The win not only put the Oilers one point ahead of the Kings, it gave them 100 points for the second straight season. The last time Edmonton reached the century mark in back-to-back seasons was 1987 under a different points structure.
The teams split the four-game season series and are on course to possibly meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second straight year. Edmonton had home ice in last year’s series and won in seven games.
Draisaitl, who also had two assists, extended his point streak to 13 games with 10 goals and 27 points during that span.
Both of Edmonton’s goals came on the power play. Draisaitl had the go-ahead score at 12:40 of the third period when he put in a rebound past Pheonix Copley in front of the Kings’ net.
It was Draisaitl’s 51st goal of the season and his league-leading 31st on the power play.
Edmonton leads the league with a 32.7% success rate on the power play, the highest by a team since 1977-78.
Ironically, the Kings’ Viktor Arvidsson, who tied it at 1 and ended a 171:58 shutout streak by the Oilers, was called for the penalty that resulted in Edmonton’s deciding goal.
Alex Iafallo scores twice and Joonas Korpisalo makes 21 saves as the Kings clinch a playoff berth in a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers while Stuart Skinner stopped 20 shots. Copley made 30 saves for the Kings.
With the Oilers on their second power play, Nugent-Hopkins got the pass from Draisaitl, skated into the left faceoff circle and snapped a shot under Copley’s arm on his glove side at 11:30 of the second period. It was Nugent-Hopkins’ 36th goal of the season.
It also gave Nugent-Hopkins 15 goals with the man advantage. According to the NHL, the Oilers are the first team to have at least four players with 15 power-play goals in a season.
Arvidsson evened it at 10:26 of the third with a one-timer from the point off the pass from Trevor Moore.
Nurse put it away with an empty-net goal late in the third.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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