GAME RECAP: Kings 1, Oilers 0

LOS ANGELES, CA – The fight for a playoff spot continues.

The Edmonton Oilers couldn't clinch their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after being stifled by 28 saves from Anton Forsberg on Saturday afternoon in a 1-0 shutout defeat to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.

Artemi Panarin scored the only goal for the Kings on a breakaway at 12:26 of the opening frame, blocking a shot from Evan Bouchard to go in alone and snipe the game-winner over the glove of Connor Ingram, who had a strong showing with 20 saves on 21 shots.

Despite Ingram's efforts, Forsberg was perfect in collecting his third shutout of the season, keeping the Kings in command of their own destiny to lock down the first Wild Card spot with their fourth straight win.

"I thought the effort was great," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We worked hard and did a lot of good things right, but we did make some mistakes. Ingram played really well. I thought we had enough scoring chances to certainly get more than one goal tonight, and their goalie played well and we missed some really good opportunities."

Needing just a point to clinch their playoff spot, the Oilers now need any result other than a Jets regulation win against the Flyers on Saturday to confirm their place in the postseason. 

The Oilers are currently one point up on the Golden Knights and Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division with two games left, with Anaheim and Vegas having a game in hand.

Edmonton will host Colorado on Monday before concluding its regular-season schedule on Thursday against Vancouver at Rogers Place.

"It's all about that next game, and we'll go home to prepare, and we've got two left to find a way to put both those in the bank," Adam Henrique said.

FIRST PERIOD

Things were beginning to heat up – just like they were in the Pacific Division – with the Kings leading 1-0 at the end of an angst-filled opening frame in Los Angeles on Saturday, where both teams came out ready to play fast and physical to carry through with their playoff aspirations.

A point would guarantee the Oilers a playoff spot, but the Kings also control their destiny for the second Wild Card, having the chance to lock it in if they could win their final four regular-season games, starting with Anze Kopitar's potential final home game of his career at Crypto.com Arena after announcing he'll retire after his 20th NHL season.

Kopitar had a great deflection early in front that nearly broke the deadlock before Darnell Nurse, who debuted against Kopitar back on Oct. 14, 2014 in Los Angeles, had a chance at the other end to bat a bouncing puck on goal that needed Anton Forsberg to make his first of a handful of strong saves.

The difference for the Kings in the first period came when Artemi Panarin blocked an Evan Bouchard pass attempt at the blueline for a breakaway that was fired top shelf beyond Connor Ingram for a 1-0 Kings lead at 12:32 of the frame.

Less than a minute later, the Oilers were dealt a tough injury blow when Max Jones went in awkwardly into the boards on a hit before hobbling off the ice, being forced to leave the game to reduce the Oilers to 11 forwards early on.

Coach Knoblauch had no update on Jones post-game, but the forward is set to join a long injury list for the Oilers that includes Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Mattias Janmark and Jason Dickinson after the centre was helped off in Saturday's win over San Jose.

Connor McDavid and Drew Doughty were teammates with Team Canada at the Olympics over a month ago, but Doughty's extra crosscheck into the back of McDavid in the Kings' crease led to the period's biggest scrum and coincidental minors for the two captains.

The Kings were lucky to take their 1-0 lead into the intermission after Curtis Lazar had a chance late to dive at a loose puck that dribbled behind Forsberg, but the combined efforts of Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin helped win the race to the puck and clear it.

SECOND PERIOD

If there was any question whether Connor Ingram was ready to start after being lifted out of precaution in Wednesday's 5-2 win over the Sharks, you can see the proof in his last-half heroics in the frame and a pair of incredible saves late on Byfield and Dumoulin that kept the deficit only 1-0 for the Oilers through 40 minutes.

Ingram didn't play the third period against the Sharks, but he was back between the pipes against the Kings and locked into a toe-to-toe battle in the other crease with Forsberg, who was perfect through two periods with 16 saves that included three on Edmonton's lone power play of the game.

"Just couldn't find a getaway to get one," Henrique said. "I thought we pushed hard throughout the entire game, had a lot of opportunities, but couldn't find a way to get that first one."

The Oilers netminder kicked out the left pad twice on Kopitar off a pass into the middle from Brandt Clarke with six minutes left in the period, but he saved his best late by stretching out for a huge blocker save on Byfield before coming across to rob Dumoulin with the glove on his one-timer.

Shots were 16-15 ahead of a crucial third period, with the physicality resulting in the Kings leading 23-21 in hits while sacrificing the body to lead 15-10 in blocks.

THIRD PERIOD

For how good Ingram was at keeping it within a goal for the full 60 minutes, plus an important late penalty kill by the Oilers, Forsberg was better to the task in making all the saves he needed to for the Kings' fourth win in a row.

Matt Savoie had Edmonton's playoff spot nearly on his stick when a wide-open chance came for him in the slot with a clear look at Forsberg from the hashmarks, but it was parried away by the Kings' crease guard to keep Los Angeles ahead with almost six minutes to play in regulation.

McDavid was called for pulling down Mikey Anderson soon after, requiring the penalty kill to come up with the clutch stop before the Oilers threw it all at the Kings with their net empty and playing six-on-five.

Despite a trio of icings from the Kings, they managed to kill the clock enough by sending it down the ice before pinning the puck in the corner for the final few seconds to confirm the two points for the Kings.