GAME STORY: Kings 5, Oilers 2

LOS ANGELES, CA -Paul LaDue's power-play goal with 5:27 to go in the final frame held up as the game-winner as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Oilers 5-2 on the first stop of Edmonton's three-game road trip.

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Paul LaDue's power-play goal with 5:27 to go in the final frame held up as the game-winner as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Oilers 5-2 on the first stop of Edmonton's three-game road trip.
Connor McDavid scored a goal and an assist in the slim defeat, while Leon Draisaitl picked up the team's other tally during the Pacific Division showdown.
The Oilers did not get off to the road start they were looking for as Kyle Clifford made it 1-0 for the home side just 1:10 after the opening faceoff. Trevor Lewis won the draw in the Oilers zone, Clifford corralled the loose puck at the top of the circle and sniped a wrist shot over Cam Talbot's shoulder for his second goal of the season.
There were very little shots and even less scoring chances for the remainder of the opening frame, but there were some fireworks when Jujhar Khaira dropped the gloves with Christian Folin. The Oilers forward took exception to Folin's hit on Jesse Puljujarvi and proceeded to land a series of damaging punches on the Kings defenceman.
Early-period goals against continued to be a thorn in Edmonton's side as the middle frame got underway and Adrian Kempe extended the Los Angeles lead to 2-0 just 58 seconds after puck-drop. Drew Doughty stole the puck in the neutral zone, carried it over the blueline and dropped a pass to Kempe, who rang a wrist shot off the far post and in.
"We've had that problem a lot this year where we're chasing the game," Draisaitl said of the early deficit. "It shows character that we came back but too bad we couldn't close it out."
The Oilers power play spurred their offence during Monday's 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, accounting for the team's first two goals. It was another PPG that ignited Edmonton's scoring on Wednesday as Draisaitl got the visitors on the board at the 3:28 mark.
Oscar Klefbom got the puck at the point, slid a pass down to McDavid along the half-wall and the captain zipped a cross-ice pass on to the stick of Draisaitl, who rifled a wrist shot past goalie Darcy Kuemper for his 14th of the season. The helper was McDavid's 62nd point and 15th in the team's last nine games.
"That's what the power play needs to do," the captain said. "It always needs to be a momentum swing for us. Whether you score or not, you need to get your chances and create that momentum."
The reigning NHL MVP wasn't finished for the second period, as McDavid evened the score at 2-2 at the 10:20 mark. Oilers fans around the world cringed when the captain collided with Khaira at the Kings blueliner, but McDavid dusted himself off, took a pass from Michael Cammalleri, beat Doughty down the right side and snuck a shot through Kuemper's five-hole.
The remarkable sequence of events resulted in McDavid's 22nd goal and 62nd point of the campaign, bumping his current hot streak up to 16 points in the last nine games.
The Oilers opened the final frame pushing hard for their first lead of the night as Darnell Nurse and Milan Lucic each struck iron with shot attempts just seconds apart. Both Talbot and Kuemper made above-average saves in the early stages of the third period to keep the score knotted at 2-2.
Puljujarvi's hooking penalty gave the Kings a power play with just over seven minutes to go in the third and LaDue beat Talbot with a shot through traffic to give the Kings the lead. The Oilers challenged the play for goalie interference, but after a review the officials deemed it was a good goal.
Alex Iaffalo and Anze Kopitar scored empty-netters to ice the win for the home team.
"The third was anybody's game," said Head Coach Todd McLellan. "We had a couple really close calls with posts."
Edmonton's all-California road trip continues on Friday as they finish the southern portion with a showdown against the Anaheim Ducks. The teams squared off on Jan. 4 for the first time since Anaheim eliminated Edmonton from the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Oilers exacted some revenge with a 2-1 shootout decision.
Kris Russell scored Edmonton's lone regulation goal and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tallied the winner during the breakaway battle. Talbot made 33 saves to pick up the win.