GAME RECAP: Kings 4, Oilers 3 (OT)

LOS ANGELES, CA – Quinton Byfield scored two goals on Saturday afternoon, including the overtime winner, while former Oilers forward Warren Foegele had a goal and two assists for the Los Angeles Kings in a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Crypto.com Arena.

Winger Viktor Arvidsson also tallied against his former team, scoring in back-to-back games for the Oilers to give them a 3-2 lead in the middle frame, but a response from Tanner Jeannot early in the third led the game to overtime, where Byfield notched scored 3:19 into sudden death to give the Kings the extra point.

"I feel like we came out in the second and played really well and had to puck a lot in their zone," Arvidsson said. "We kind of took our foot off the gas pedal in the third and let them back into it, so I think we just need to [like before the holiday break] stay on the gas and make teams defend."

Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each added goals, while Connor McDavid produced an assist to keep his point streak alive at 10 games (3G, 16A).

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 25 saves on 29 shots in the defeat that dropped the Oilers (21-11-3) into third place in the Pacific Division – one spot behind Los Angeles (20-10-5) despite both teams having 45 points through 35 games.

The Oilers finish back-to-back games on Sunday afternoon against the Ducks.

FIRST PERIOD

Kapanen gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on a juicy rebound from Darcy Kuemper midway through the opening period, finishing off Connor Brown's long effort off a zone entry that marked his fourth goal in an Oilers uniform since arriving off waivers in mid-November.

Brown picked up his ninth helper of the season, surpassing his '23-24 total in only 34 games, while he now has seven points (3G, 4A) in his last seven contests.

Kapanen's fifth goal of the campaign would be the extent of Edmonton's scoring in an opening frame that quickly flipped in favour of the Kings, most notably a former Oilers forward in Foegele, who'd play a key part in giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead before the first intermission.

Foegele picked up an assist on Quinton Byfield's powering move three-and-a-half minutes after Kapanen opened the scoring before he got lucky with the last touch on a pinballing puck that bounced off a skate and past Stuart Skinner to give the Kings a 2-1 lead with 2:25 left in the period.

The former Oiler of three seasons (2021-24) tallied his 10th goal of the season with his first career tally against Edmonton, having set a career-high last season with the club with 20 goals (41 points) in 82 games.

"I think especially early in the game, the turnovers in the neutral zone," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We want to carry the puck in the offensive zone as much as we can, but if it's not there, we have to put it behind the defence and establish forecheck and make the defence turn. It makes it a lot more difficult on them and I think too often, we didn't put them in that position."

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers remained patient in the second period and picked their spots to put themselves back in front against the Kings before the break, beginning with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' power-play marker with 3:20 gone in the middle frame that tied things up at two.

Defenceman Ty Emberson was tripped in the neutral zone by Alex Laferriere to set up the game's first power play, leading to Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid getting the assists on Nugent-Hopkins' lower-blocker shot through traffic that marked his third PPG in his last six games.

McDavid added an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games with 19 points (3G, 16A) and is now just two points shy of tying Mark Messier (1,034) for the third most in franchise history.

Foegele wouldn't be the only one to get one past his former team after a turnover forced by Leon Draisaitl against Vladislav Gavrikov in the Kings' zone would result in Viktor Arvidsson scoring in back-to-back games to give the Oilers back the lead almost half a period later.

After Draisaitl knocked down Gavrikov's pass and gave it to Vaily Podkolzin, the Russian laid it off to his Swedish linemate in the slot to beat Kuemper at the right post, restoring Edmonton's advantage at 2-1 with his first goal against his former team since joining the Oilers this past offseason.

"That was nice for sure," Arvidsson said. "A lot of friends over there that I got close with, so it's good to play them again."

THIRD PERIOD

Warren Foegele picked up his third point on a nice passing sequence with Jordan Spence and Tanner Jeannot that produced a tap-in for Jeannot that tied the game at three just 2:32 into the final frame.

Jeannot would take a hooking penalty less than a minute later to send the Oilers to their second power play, where Zach Hyman was unlocked for a dangerous chance on a nice passing play with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid that left him alone in front, but Kuemper got to it with the glove to keep out Edmonton on their best chance of the third period.

The Oilers killed off a high-sticking penalty to Viktor Arvidsson, and defenceman Mattias Ekholm made a goal-saving block on Adrian Kempe minutes later as the Blue & Orange held things down in their own end to get the game to overtime.

OVERTIME

With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins forced into a long shift in overtime, it was Quinton Byfield side-stepping in the slot and sniping the game-winner past Stuart Skinner from the left circle to give Los Angeles the extra point in an exciting Pacific Division battle on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena.

"They had possession there for a while. Nuge obviously can't change recklessly. He's got to stay out there," Knoblauch said. "We were able to get a lot of changes one at a time and Ekky got off. So you can just see at the end there we had tired guys, and when you're out tired, it's difficult to defend."

It was a close division battle that came down to sudden death, but Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said post-game that besides a handful of strong individual performances, he didn't see enough collectively from his forward group.

"Just not having enough of our lines going," he said. "We had strong contributions from some guys, but we just couldn't maintain the momentum because of everyone not playing to their best.

The Oilers will try to raise their game in the second of back-to-back games on Sunday afternoon at the Honda Center against the Anaheim Ducks.