The Kings four-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night in Edmonton as they fell 4-1 to the Oilers. The loss to Edmonton also closed out the season series between the two teams with the Kings finishing 1-2-1 across those four games against the Oilers. Now with 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Kings trail the Oilers by five points and were jumped by the Vegas Golden Knights in the standings after their win 4-1 in Winnipeg tonight, leaving them currently holding onto the second and final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Going hand-in-hand with their four-game winning streak entering the night, the Kings had also netted the first goal of the game in each of those victorious outcomes. That streak too was snapped Thursday when Connor McDavid tipped a shot from Mattias Ekholm and followed the deflection to bang in the rebound during 4-on-4 play 5:37 into the game. No more offense would result in the first period and the game went into the second with the shots favoring the Oilers 8-7.
The Kings had a strong second period, outshooting the Oilers 11-7, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Attempting to ride that momentum into the third period, the Oilers snatched that away with a goal with 16 seconds remaining in the middle stanza. A Leon Draisaitl net-front passing attempt rose up into the upper body of Adam Henrique and ricocheted into the Kings net, doubling the home team’s lead.
Into the third, the Oilers added to their lead 5:05 in with a power play goal involving the usual suspects. Assists from McDavid and Draisaitl set up a one-time goal from Evan Bouchard, giving him his league-leading 33rd point (7-26=33) on the power play among defensemen. The Kings got back into the game with 6:13 remaining in regulation when Arthur Kaliyev netted his seventh goal of the season after drawing back into the lineup for the second time in the last nine games. Picking up the only assist on the goal was Quinton Byfield, who extended his assist streak to four games. An empty net goal from Cody Ceci closed the game out and sends the Kings to Calgary with a 1-1-0 record on their current four-game Canadian road trip.
Cam Talbot stopped 16 of 19 shots.
