Bouchard breaks tie in 3rd, Oilers defeat Kings to end 3-game skid

EDMONTON -- Evan Bouchard scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and had an assist for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place on Monday.

Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers (34-20-2), who had lost three straight (0-2-1). Stuart Skinner made 38 saves.

“He was incredible for us and has been for a long time,” Bouchard said of Skinner. “When he plays like that, it’s hard to score on him and it gives us that much more confidence.

“I think we’ve got to have a little better start to us, but against those guys, you’ve got to be patient. They’re a team that we’ve seen a lot over the past few seasons. Divisional games are always big, so that was a good win for us.”

Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere scored, and David Rittich made 27 saves for the Kings (29-18-10), who had won five of six.

“I thought we played hard and used a lot of energy the first two periods. We didn’t give them much at all and we were a little bit sloppy to start the third,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “They scored a nice goal, got in front of the net and shot it. It was fairly simple, but good execution by them. And then we tried, their goalie made some saves, and I thought Skinner played really well the second half of the game.”

Moore put the Kings ahead 1-0 at 6:45 of the first period, scoring five-hole from the low slot off a pass from Quinton Byfield, who quickly fed him after getting the rebound of Andreas Englund's shot off the end boards.

Moore leads the Kings with 22 goals this season.

“We were in a good spot going into the third, and they had a better jump than we did at the start and we couldn’t get our momentum back there,” Moore said. “We took a couple of penalties, and it was a tough night.

"I thought we had a good 40 (minutes) going, and it goes to show you how fast it can flip, but we’ll rebound.”

Zach Hyman tied it 1-1 at 19:36 of the first. He scored with a one-timer from the left circle following a turnover by Pierre-Luc Dubois.

McDavid had the primary assist on the play. He has 20 assists during an eight-game point streak, and 54 points (12 goals, 42 assists) during a 23-game home point streak.

Laferriere put the Kings back in front 2-1 at 7:34 of the second period. Anze Kopitar took a drop pass from Matt Roy just inside the blue line and sent a feed down low to Laferriere, who scored past Skinner’s glove.

Draisaitl tied it 2-2 at 15:56, redirecting a wrist shot from Bouchard five-hole on Rittich for a power-play goal.

“We didn’t create as much as we wanted and didn’t spend enough time in their zone,” Kopitar said. “There are just moments in the game where we have a power play and trying to get up 3-1, and that could have been a big difference for us, and we weren’t able to score.

“And on the flip side, they get a power-play goal about 10 seconds into their power play.”

Bouchard gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead at 1:25 of the third period with a one-timer glove side from the point.

Nugent-Hopkins made it 4-2 at 16:31, finishing a give-and-go with Connor Brown from the edge of the crease.

“We’ve played them enough, we know the way they play,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We obviously have a plan for that. It’s a patient game. You have to be able to stick with it the whole 60 and not get frustrated.

“I definitely think it was a good time for a game like this, just to simplify our game and not turn the puck over. We’ve been talking a lot about simplifying our game, and tonight we had to do it and I thought we did a good job.”

Kings forward Adrian Kempe left with 1:35 remaining after he got tripped up by Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci. He held his arm as he went down the tunnel.

“For him not to finish the game means something’s not right, because it was a big moment,” Hiller said.

NOTES: McDavid has 91 points (21 goals, 70 assists) in 54 games this season. He became the sixth player in NHL history to have at least eight straight seasons with at least 90 points, joining Wayne Gretzky (13), Mike Bossy (nine), Jari Kurri (eight), Dale Hawerchuk (eight) and Marcel Dionne (eight). ... Bouchard has an NHL career-high 15 goals this season, which is tied with MacKenzie Weegar of the Calgary Flames for the most among NHL defensemen. ... Hyman has scored six goals on a five-game goal streak.