The Kings extended their winning streak to four games on Saturday afternoon inside Crypto.com Arena and in doing so, also snapped the Edmonton Oilers three-game winning streak. Coming in the form of a 3-0 shutout victory, the Kings blanked the Oilers for just the fourth time this season. The win also proves to be pivotal in the standings because the Kings now move four points ahead of the Oilers in the race for home ice advantage and are now just one point behind the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights.
It was a back and forth first period that saw chances from both sides. While neither team found the back of the net, the Oilers outshot the Kings 9-8 in a period where the home team had the only power play opportunity of the stanza.
The offense got going in the second period and it was thought to be Jeff Malott who scored the game’s opening goal. Playing in his seventh career game, Malott jumped over a diving defenseman, flipped the puck over the sliding stick, regathered and beat Calvin Pickard under the pad with a shot as he fell to the ice. What truly was the goal of the year for the Kings was unfortunately short-lived as the Oilers successfully challenged the play for offsides to negate the goal. Not long after, the Kings did find the back of the net legally. Breaking the scoreless tie with 10:40 remaining in the second period, Alex Laferriere ripped a shot on the rush to create a rebound. Crashing the net simultaneously, Kevin Fiala found the rebound in his lap, let it fall to the ice, and quickly deposited the puck into an empty net for his 30th goal of the season. Leading 1-0 late in the period, Drew Doughty held the blue line in the offensive zone with a loose puck and found Adrian Kempe. Kempe proceeded to find an open Andrei Kuzmenko and the Russian winger ripped a wrist shot from the top of the right wing side circle past Pickard on the blocker side to double the lead with 3:52 to go in the period. Kuzmenko’s goal now gives him a team-leading 11 points (5-6=11) in the Kings last nine games.
The Kings kept the Oilers off of the scoreboard in the third period and Trevor Lewis added an insurance goal with an empty netter with 2:57 remaining in the game to put the nail in the Oilers coffin in this particular game.
Darcy Kuemper was sensational when called upon, stopping all 27 Oilers shots. Kemper has now allowed two goals or less in 13 consecutive games.
