GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Kings 2

LOS ANGELES, CA - Leon Draisaitl's slick feed with just over five minutes left in regulation set Kailer Yamamoto up for the game-winning goal on Tuesday night as the Oilers completed a back-to-back California road trip perfect with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
Evander Kane and Connor McDavid each had a goal and assist, with the captain reaching 25 goals on the year and extending his road scoring streak to four games.
Mike Smith made 30 saves on 32 shots, improving his record to 4-4-1 after Stuart Skinner took care of business in the first leg of the road trip with a shutout on Monday over the San Jose Sharks.

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FIRST BLOOD

Starting the second of the back-to-back, Smith played the puck blind from behind the Oilers net to the left corner, where Brendan Lemieux scooped up the loose puck and played it in front to Arthur Kaliyev to slide the opening goal lazily inside the left post at the four-minute mark of the first period before Smith could set himself back in between the pipes.

AFTER CLOSE CONSULTATION

McDavid batted down a pass from Puljujarvi and cut around Drew Doughty, who earned the Silver Stick before the game for playing his 1,000th NHL game prior to the All-Star break, before the captain put the puck into the net on his second attempt as the big Finn barrelled into Cal Petersen with just over two minutes to go in the second period.
The referee initially waved it off for goaltender interference, but after a conference at the penalty box with the other officials, the call on the ice was overturned after it was determined Puljujarvi was pushed into Petersen by Kings defenceman Mike Anderson. The tying goal went down as McDavid's 25th of the season, extending his road goal streak to four games.

SAVE OF THE GAME

With 5:09 left in a tie game, a blocked shot that fell right to the stick of Doughty for an open look was squeezed at the right post by Smith at a critical point in the game. Soon after, Yamamoto and Draisaitl connected for the game-winning goal before Hyman and Kane added empty-netters in the last minute. Talk about a game-defining save.

PLAY OF THE GAME

What a play by Draisaitl to set up the winning goal. The German moved a rimmed puck below the Kings net to his backhand and delivered a no-look feed onto the tape of Yamamoto, who deposited his ninth goal of the season past Petersen who was left with no chance to react in time to stop the Oilers from taking a late lead with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.

TOP PERFORMER

It was another strong team effort as Edmonton won their third-straight game, but McDavid put together an all-around great game to help drive the play in a choppy game through 38 minutes before he leveled the score with 2:18 on the clock in the second period. The captain has goals in four-straight road games and 25 overall on the year.

PARTING WORDS

Nugent-Hopkins on the Oilers winning a tightly-contested battle against the Kings:
"We had the mindset of sticking with it. They got up one early, but it didn't deter us. Second period, we got a big goal late and then just kind of stuck with it and kept pushing and pushing. Eventually, we broke through. That's how we're going to have to win games in the second half of the season here. It's going to be tight-checking and nothing's going to be free. Definitely a big game for us, a big divisional game too, so it's nice to get the win.

Nugent-Hopkins on the battle level Smith displayed after giving up the first goal:
"He made some huge saves when we needed him to. I thought we did a better job at battling in front of him and not giving up too many high-quality chances, but when they were there, he came up big. It's great to see both Skinner last night and Schmiddy tonight for us."
Smith on the team's performance in a choppy and gritty game in Los Angeles:
"We stayed patient. We stayed patient in our game and didn't let it get away from us when we were down one there. We banged in a gritty one there in the second and just kind of stuck with it. There's was never really any panic in our game. It just seemed to be whoever didn't make the last mistake was going to win the game, so it was a valiant effort by our group. We stuck with it and found a way to win."

Smith on the team's change in attitude since arriving as head coach:
"Woody's obviously come in and made some changes, but all in all, the players have got to want it. You've got to want it as a player, you've got to want to win and do whatever it takes to do that. The details in the game matter so much, and that comes down to the players willing to do that and having what it takes to play a full 60 minutes -- block shots, win battles -- the little things in games mean so much in the grand scheme of things.
"Woody has obviously come in and upped the detail level with our players. The players have bought in and decided that it's now or never."

Woodcroft on winning his third game as head coach and the attention to detail from his team since his arrival:
"I've been very impressed with the level of professionalism of all the players on our roster. We've asked everybody to up their work rate, we're asking the team to play a certain demanding style, and I'm very happy that the team is seeing results. That's a good team character win. We didn't score the first goal of the game and nobody hung their heads. We found a way to claw back and there wasn't a lot of real estate out there. You had to fight for all your space, and those types of games are not easy to win.
"To see the effort put forward by our players was very impressive."