GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Kings 1

EDMONTON, AB – Two big points signed, sealed and delivered.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had three-point nights while Stuart Skinner shut the door with 32 saves on 33 shots for the Edmonton Oilers, who claimed an important victory in the Pacific Division standings on Thursday night with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place.

"It's always hard against these guys. They're as solid as they come," McDavid said. "They're structured and responsible, and they're good. It's always difficult."

The Oilers captain reached 120 points for the third straight season, picking up his 27th goal and the 94th and 95th assists of the year as he continues to chase down becoming the fourth player in NHL history – and the first since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91 – to reach the 100-assist mark.

Evan Bouchard chipped in with a goal and an assist and now has a goal and 13 assists in his last nine games. 

With the victory, the Oilers are 15-2-2 in their last 19 games on home ice while extending their lead over the Kings in the Pacific Division to five points heading into Saturday afternoon's clash with the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers and Kings started Thursday's contest like two teams destined to meet head-to-head in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight year, and if the regular season ended today, they would.

"We're a confident group. We believe in ourselves," McDavid said. "We've played these guys many times, and we've played these games. They're tight-checking and we're comfortable with playing a defensive game and a patient game, a mature game, and it requires everybody and we're comfortable doing that."

The hits were even 15-15 and the shots were level 8-8 through 20 minutes between the second- and third-place teams in the Pacific Division, but the Oilers had the all-important first goal on Connor McDavid's 120th point of the season that made it three straight seasons of the captain reaching the 120-point threshold.

"I think it's obviously a great start for us," Skinner said. "It's nice to get this win and kind of make a little bit more leeway for home-ice advantage, but at the same time, these guys come every single night and they know what they have to do against us, and us versus them. So it's always a great battle playing against these guys.

"If we face them, it'll be very exciting."

A physically charged and emotional frame saw Leon Draisaitl and Blake Lizotte in the box for respective tripping and slashing calls just under five minutes into the game that set up McDavid's opportunity to cash in his 27th goal of the campaign.

The Oilers captain knocked down Mattias Ekholm's shot from the point and delivered a backhand past his old teammate Cam Talbot at 14:23 of the opening frame to give the Blue & Orange a one-goal lead that would hold until the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD

Edmonton left the excitement in another tightly contested period at Rogers Place for the final minute, beginning with Stuart Skinner's important double stop on Anze Kopitar just prior to the period's last minute of play.

Adrian Kempe found his centre open in the slot for two good looks against Edmonton's keeper, but the hometown product kept his nerve and turned aside the 36-year-old two golden opportunities before his teammates were able to clear the ensuing goalmouth scramble.

The stops proved vital after the Oilers went up the ice and doubled their lead on a bank shot by Draisaitl off Adam Henrique as he rounded Los Angeles' net with less than 20 seconds on the clock in the period.

"Many times he's been the difference in the game, and he played really well," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said of the Oilers netminder. "And I think the biggest time was late in the second period. They had an unbelievable chance. He came up with a save and then shortly after, we make it 2-0, and that's quite a difference being up 2-0 going into the third period as opposed to 1-1. You're always asking your goaltenders to make key saves at key moments, and that was one of them."

Draisaitl threw a high backhand into the danger area in front of LA's crease that struck the outstretched knee of Henrique, who picked up his 23rd goal of the season in his 900th NHL game – and 11th as an Oiler.

"I think we're all comfortable playing with each other," McDavid said. "I haven't played with him much, but he's adjusted really well and that was a really timely goal. He's done a great job of being at the net for that line and got rewarded. Leo makes great play as usual, and he does a great job of just being there, being inside his check, and if he's not there it doesn't go in."

THIRD PERIOD

A blast from Evan Bouchard on the power play set up by McDavid extended Edmonton's lead to 3-0, meaning there was only the job left of trying to secure Stuart Skinner's shutout with three-quarters of the final frame left.

Skinner did his best at trying to preserve his clean sheet with a couple of remarkable saves against Pierre-Luc Dubois on a two-on-one and again on Arthur Kaliyev's wrap-around, but the latter eventually broke through by delivering a one-timer past the Edmonton-born netminder from between the circles with 6:13 left in regulation.

Despite having his shutout taken away, Skinner remained locked in and nabbed a hard one-timer from Drew Doughty with three-and-a-half minutes left to keep LA's comeback limited to only a single goal.

Doughty's effort would be the last shot of the game for the Kings, who couldn't generate anything against the Oilers with their net empty before Cody Ceci iced the 4-1 result with a full-length empty-netter with 41 seconds left.

"There was obviously a turning point in the third period where they had the momentum. A lot of shots on Stu," Knoblauch said. "And tomorrow, when we look at that, we'll kind of look at why weren't as good in the third as were in the second period. But I guess it comes down to what kind of shots we're giving up, and we've been talking about reducing our quality chances that we're giving up.

"Tonight we gave up more shots than we would like, but the quality chances we gave up on the third, I thought was pretty good and I think that's the most important."