McDavid gets four points, Oilers defeat slumping Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists in his 800th NHL game, and the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to five games by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.

McDavid has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in a season-opening six-game streak.

“I mean, just the way the guy shows up every single day, it’s rinse repeat,” Edmonton goalie Devon Levi said of McDavid.

Vasily Podkolzin scored twice, and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (5-0-1), who swept a three-game road trip to remain perfect away from home (4-0-0). Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Levi made 39 saves in his fourth straight win.

“Honestly, like it’s pretty impressive how we’re able to score ballistically and also play like a really solid defensive game,” Levi said. “The message that (head coach Mike Babcock) sent is that we have better. I mean, if that’s our bad game, that’s a great game. That’s a great bad game.”

Brandt Clarke scored for the Kings (0-3-2), who have lost five straight and were held to one goal for the third straight game (0-2-1).

“The belief’s there in our group, but just not good enough right now,” Los Angeles forward Trevor Moore said. “Concern, it’s a tough word because I believe in our group, but it’s not (expletive) good enough right now, and we got to figure it out fast. Positive is that there’s a lot of games left, so we just got to turn the page and figure it out.”  

Darcy Kuemper stopped four of seven shots before being replaced to start the second period by Anton Forsberg, who made nine saves.

The Oilers led 3-0 after the first period, with McDavid factoring on all three goals.

“Obviously, we started on time, got going,” Babcock said. “I didn’t think at any time we were fantastic tonight, but McDavid and the big boys were great.”

McDavid found Draisaitl at the bottom of the left face-off circle for a sharp-angle shot to open the scoring at 7:16.

“It’s been fun,” McDavid said of playing with Draisaitl at even strength to start the season. “Leon’s one of the best players in the world. And to be able to play with him and ‘Podzi,’ ‘Bouchy’ a lot of shifts, ‘Eky’(Mattias Ekholm), it’s a fun unit to be out there with. To get a nice string of games together to kind of build a little bit of chemistry and work on things, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Podkolzin made it 2-0 exactly one minute later on the power play at 8:16. He put in McDavid’s rebound from the left circle after McDavid had entered the zone with speed and shot from the right circle.

“Just mental lapses in the first, and it feels like every game we’re just making little mistake here and there that’s just costing us games, and there’s no excuse for it,” Moore said.

McDavid extended the lead to 3-0 at 15:48. Ty Emberson launched a stretch pass from the Oilers' defensive zone to surprise the Kings in a line change. McDavid gloved the puck down in stride, got behind the defense and beat Kuemper at the right post with a backhand on the breakaway.

“We were kind of hemmed in there, and then got the change, and so I’m always going to (look for our defense to) high flip it and just go for it. Worked out well,” McDavid said.

Clarke cut it to 3-1 at 17:29 of the second period on a long shot through traffic.

Podkolzin scored his second goal on an empty net at 17:42 of the third period for the 4-1 final, with McDavid and Draisaitl picking up the assists.

The line of McDavid, Draisaitl and Podkolzin has combined for 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) through six games.

“I just think that seems to be the best way for our group now,” Babcock said of playing McDavid and Draisaitl together. “Right now, there’s not a lot of moves (available to us), and so we just try to stay as patient as we can and get them out there when we need them.”

NOTES: McDavid has 1,237 points (413 goals, 824 assists) through 800 NHL games, which is third-most in NHL history, behind Wayne Gretzky (1,892 on Dec. 2, 1989) and Mario Lemieux (1,580 on Jan. 12, 2002). … McDavid is the ninth player in NHL history with at least 50 four-point games. ... Podkolzin also extended his season-opening point streak to six games (nine points; seven goals, two assists). ... Levi became just the third goaltender in Oilers history to win each of his first four games with the team, joining Mikko Koskinen (5-0-0 in 2019-20) and Andy Moog (4-0-0 in 1983-84). ... McDavid became the ninth player in NHL history to record at least 50 four-point games. ... Edmonton started a season on a six-game point streak for the third time in franchise history, following 1984-85 (15 games) and 1983-84 (seven games). ... The Kings dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen.