GAME DAY
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OILERS TODAY | Chris Wescott wraps up the game
POST-GAME RAW | Talbot
POST-GAME RAW | Draisaitl
POST-GAME RAW | Larsson
POST-GAME RAW | Oilers head coach Todd McLellan
WHAT'S NEXT
The Oilers continue their trip through California with a showdown in Anaheim against the Ducks. The game is at 6 p.m. MST and can be seen on Sportsnet or heard on 630 CHED and the Oilers Radio Network.
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Inside The Oilers Blog
The Oilers couldn't have asked for a much better start to their trip as they scored just 51 seconds into opening period thanks to Anton Slepyshev's fourth goal of the season and third in the last nine games.
Some precision passing led to the goal as Oscar Klefbom out-muscled his man in the offensive zone and chipped the puck along the wall to Cammalleri, who slid it up to Ryan Strome, who found Slepyshev alone on the other side of the net for the one-timer past netminder Jonathan Quick.
The Kings had won both previous meetings this season on the strength of four power-play goals, and they had ample opportunity to continue that trend in the first period as the Oilers were dealt three minor penalties. Los Angeles even had 1:06 of five-on-three time but Edmonton managed to weather the storm.
Heading into tonight's game, the Oilers were tied for the top road penalty kill in the NHL at 86.6 percent, continuing their success in the opening stanza.
The Oilers got a scare midway through the opening frame when captain, leading scorer and reigning League MVP Connor McDavid collided with Milan Lucic at the Kings blueline. McDavid favoured his mid-section leaving the ice and got some medical attention on the bench but returned to action a few minutes later appearing no worse for wear.
Edmonton extended their lead in the middle frame and it was Cammalleri striking again with another impressive assist. Adam Larsson whacked a loose puck all the way from the Oilers zone to Cammalleri at the far blueline, and the veteran winger set up Leon Draisaitl for a no-doubt one-timer past a sprawling Quick.
Draisaitl is in the midst of an impressive scoring stretch, finding the back of the net seven times in the last 11 games. The middle-frame marker was also the German's 19th of the season and 55th point in 57 games.
Tyler Toffoli got the Kings on the board at the 14:26 mark of the second period, getting loose behind the Oilers defence and beating Cam Talbot with a backhand deke for his 20th goal of the year.
In Edmonton's previous two games they built a 2-0 lead only to have their opponents battle back and tie it up 2-2. They bucked that trend on Saturday as Jujhar Khaira scored just 2:38 after Toffoli's tally to re-establish his team's two-goal advantage with his 10th of the season.
Darnell Nurse passed the puck up through the neutral zone to Drake Caggiula, who found Khaira with a pass to the middle. From there, Khaira burst over the blueline, made a deft deke around Kings d-man Christian Folin and unleashed a wrist shot that grazed Quick's shoulder and found the top corner to make it 3-1.
Oilers 2011 fourth-round draft pick Tobias Rieder, acquired by the Kings this week thanks to a trade with the Arizona Coyotes, scored his first goal with his new team against the team that brought him to the NHL to cut Edmonton's lead to 3-2 with 12:09 to go in regulation. Rieder got his stick on a loose puck on the doorstep for his ninth of the season.
With Quick on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, Strome sent a soaring shot into the empty net to make it 4-2 with 59 seconds remaining to give himself a two-point night.
The Kings were nowhere near done battling, though, as Dustin Brown made it 4-3 with 18 seconds on the clock. Then, with just nine seconds to go, Brown fought his way to the net and pushed both the puck and Talbot's pad over the goal line, appearing to tie the game.
The officials did not make a goal call on the ice, but they reviewed the play and determined the puck did in fact cross the line. For a few seconds, it was a 4-4 game, but another review was held to determine whether goaltender interference was involved, and since Brown forced Talbot's pad into the net, the would-be equalizer was disallowed and the Oilers escaped with the win.
Edmonton's road trip continues Sunday against the Ducks in Anaheim, their final game before Monday's NHL Trade Deadline, as they look to make it three wins in a row.
