The Kings opened their season series against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night in LA, playing in the first of four meetings between the two teams. Going up against the team that the Kings have seen the most over the past two seasons, 21 times including the playoffs, it was a bout between two heavyweight teams that were very familiar with each other.
The first period was all Kings on Saturday night as the Kings took an 11-2 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. It wasn’t until 5:16 remained in the period that the Kings impressive play paid off. After a Leon Draisaitl hooking penalty drawn by Adrian Kempe, the Kings went on the power play. There, Kempe used his legs to alleviate the pressure on a zone entry and found Kevin Fiala in the slot for a one-timer goal. Kempe then took things into his own hands and doubled the Kings lead with 1:11 remaining in the first. Kempe picked up his 12th goal of the season after getting loose in the neutral zone and beat Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner with a snipe of wrist shot on the glove side. Kempe’s two-point first period resulted in his team-leading 10th multi-point game of the season.
Entering the second period the momentum was fully in favor of the Kings. That quickly turned. In a period where the Kings took three penalties, the Oilers outshot the Kings 13-7 and outscored the Kings 2-0. Like the Kings, the Oilers first goal also came a power play. It was the usual suspects for the Oilers on Saturday as Connor McDavid brought his team within one of the Kings with a perfectly placed flick of a wrist shot to be beat Cam Talbot off of his helmet and into the net. The game-tying goal came 10 minutes later with the dynamic duo of McDavid and Draisaitl teaming up for a backdoor goal from the German.
Tied up a 2-2, the third period was full of excitement but resulted in no goals, ultimately sending the game into overtime. Following the scoreless five-minute 3-on-3 overtime session, the two teams went into a shootout. The shootout went four rounds and the Oilers came away with the extra point.
Kings: ✅ ✅❌❌
Oilers: ✅✅❌✅
Cam Talbot stopped 24 of 26 shots.
