GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Kings 1

LOS ANGELES, CA - The Oilers locked down the Kings on Tuesday night to pick up a 3-1 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
Edmonton found power-play goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl, while Darnell Nurse dumped a long distance bank shot into the empty net to seal the victory for the Oilers.
Pheonix Copley turned away 30-of-32 shots he faced on the night in just his fifth regulation loss of the season, and Viktor Arvidsson scored the Kings' lone goal of the evening, ending the Oilers shutout streak at 171:58.
The contest was a much-tighter checking affair than last Thursday's game in Edmonton. The two squads combined for 80 shots at Rogers Place compared to just 54 at Crypto.com Arena in the Oilers win tonight. Edmonton wasn't credited with their first shot on goal until the 14:56 mark of the first period, with the sides combining for just five pucks on target in the opening 20 minutes.
Stuart Skinner was the benefactor of the tough defensive matchup, picking up his 26th victory of the season in the 20 save performance.
"It's the way it's going to be against LA," Connor McDavid said after the game. "That's the way you beat a team like that. Done it twice now. I think it was good for our group to show to ourselves, and to them, that we can beat them that way."
Tuesday's victory allowed the Oilers to leapfrog the Kings in the Pacific Division standings, with Edmonton sitting one point up on Los Angeles at 101 points. The two rivals seem to be on a collision course to meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight year, with home ice still to be decided.
The Oilers will follow up Tuesday night's victory with a stop in Anaheim on Wednesday to take on the Ducks.

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FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers entered the night with the best power play in NHL history, but the Kings had been their lone kryptonite this season. Edmonton had yet to beat the Kings with the man advantage, going 0-for-11 on the season until the breakthrough finally occurred on their third opportunity of the contest.
With Sean Walker in the box for slashing, the Oilers top unit went to work. Following an excellent keep in at the blue line by Evan Bouchard, Draisaitl found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in space and the Oilers forward sniped a far side shot on Copley for his 36th of the season and 98th point.
"Yeah, credit to them. They do a lot of good things on the kill," McDavid said. "They know our group really well. It's a game of inches and little battles, and we won just enough to put two in."

SAVE OF THE GAME

Much like last game in Edmonton, Adrian Kempe picked some cherries behind the Oilers defence, but Stuart Skinner was up to the task. Anze Kopitar found the Kings 36-goal scorer with the stretch pass, and the sniper quickly fired a shot on Skinner before Cody Ceci could hunt him down.
The Oilers goaltender fought off the laser opportunity for the stop to keep the game scoreless midway through the second. Kempe had a breakaway in the Oilers last matchup against the Kings, with the Swede opting for the forehand-backhand deke on Skinner. The rookie netminder stretched out and flashed the glove hand on Kempe to deny him of the goal

Skinner was playing his second consecutive game against the Kings, having recorded a 43-save shutout against the California team last Thursday at Rogers Place. The flawless performance was Skinner's second shutout of his career and the first by an Oiler this season until Jack Campbell matched the feat in the following game with a 6-0 win over Anaheim.
"I feel great," Skinner said about his game. "A lot of stats and stuff like that are a result of how everyone plays. My D have been fantastic for me, my forwards have been coming back for me hard and been making huge blocks. So it's not just me out there, and just a huge thank you to all the guys in front of me and how they've been playing. Got to keep on rolling here."

TURNING POINT

The Oilers power play once again saved the day for the visitors. Just 33 seconds after Arvidsson had levelled the game at a goal apiece with his 25th of the year, the Kings goalscorer took a slashing call on McDavid to send Edmonton to the man advantage.
It was hardly the prettiest power play the Oilers had put together this season, but it may have been the biggest. Leon Draisaitl was johnny on the spot, popping home a loose puck by Copley for his 51st goal of the season and 31st on the power play. The German factored in on all three Oilers goals on the night, raising his season point total to 123 on the year.
"We talk a lot about that, the momentum swings in a game. Shifts after goals, either way, are really big," McDavid said. "You either kind of cement your goal or to get momentum back right away, and I thought our line did a good job of going out and grabbing momentum back and drawing a power play and scored a big goal."

SHUTOUT STREAKING

A lot had been made about the Oilers league leading offence, which paces the NHL with 309 goals, but the questions were asked if the Oilers could play the shutdown style that carried down the stretch towards last season's Western Conference Final run. Safe to say, the Oilers have answered those questions over the last week.
The Oilers extended their shutout streak to 171:58, the third-longest streak in franchise history. Edmonton's longest streak is 192:53 set between Mar. 2-11 set by Tommy Salo, who had eight shutouts during that season. Salo also has a share of the Oilers second-longest shutout streak, sharing a 173:41 effort with Jussi Markkanen from Dec. 5-11, 2002.

PARTING WORDS

Connor McDavid on the tight checking style of game against the Kings:
"It's fun. We like playing that game, they like playing that game; It makes for competitive hockey. Off the ice, it may not translate onto the TV, but on the ice it's highly competitive and it's emotional, it's intense. Those are the games that we obviously love to play."
Stuart Skinner on what he has to do on an Oilers power play:
"For me, it's just always trying to stay ready, especially against LA. They come hard, they dump it, and then they have guys coming on us right away. Right. So I always got to be ready for that, ready for every team doing that, but obviously there's a nice little break usually, and I'm just hoping that we get the goal and get up. I thought today it was massive when we were able to get the power play, especially in the third period when Leo got that goal. I mean, just a battle in front, and we were able to come up with the goal and that's massive."
Skinner on the Kings late tying goal:
"It was tough. That obviously ties the game up 1-1. So from there, it's big how we responded, and I think that's how it's going to be moving forward. Games are going to be tight for the rest of the year, so it's going to be important for us to stick it out and playing games that are 1-1, 0-0, 2-2 and we got the guys to do that."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers power play finally scoring on Los Angeles:
"I mean, obviously, we have confidence in ourselves. I thought we probably weren't as clean as we wanted to be in the first couple of power plays and even the third one that we scored on, me especially. I think the way that we just kind of stuck with it and trusted ourselves and trusted the process and trusted the ability that we can step up and get one when we need to."
Nugent-Hopkins on the type of game the Oilers have to play against LA
"Well, you play against a team like that, I see what you're saying. I mean, when you play against a team like that, it forces you to defend well and not force things and not turn pucks over. I think just as a group, we've improved on that a lot, and we've changed a little bit about our attitude and the way that we approach these games. I think that's a good thing for us."
Head Coach Jay Woodcroft on how tight the game was tonight:
"I thought it was a good game for our team. It was a patient game for our team, not a lot of room on the ice tonight. Very well played game by both teams. I thought both teams played hard. Both teams had the chance to win, and we found a way, which is a good sign for our group."
Woodcroft on the Oilers stars coming up big on the power play:
"In the end, we found a way. I thought our game breakers were able to solve some problems that their penalty kill presented, and they made the big plays at the right time, and that's what they do. That's why they're the best in the world."