LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings shutout the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Saturday as L.A. goaltender Darcy Kuemper garnered his fifth shutout of the season.
“He’s been stellar for us all year,” captain center Anze Kopitar said after the game. “Shutout or not, he gives us a chance every night. Obviously that’s everything you can ask for [from] your goalie. He’s been great and obviously it’s nice to play in front of him.”
“He’s our backbone and he has been. He’s been playing very well,” head coach Jim Hiller said in his postgame press conference.
The action didn’t start until about halfway through the second period when winger Kevin Fiala scored his 30th goal of the season. After a huge stop from Kuemper on the King’s defensive side of the ice, winger Alex Laferriere pushed down the right wall and took a shot that was initially saved by Oilers netminder Calvin Pickard, but was knocked in by Fiala in the crease.
“I evaluate us first,” said Hiller. “I think we were very average in the first period, but then played very well in the second. They are a good team, they’ve one three in a row… didn’t like how we played in the first and then really liked the second and third. So we will measure it on that, on our side.”
The Kings would add on to their lead about seven minutes later, with winger Andrei Kuzmenko scoring to push L.A.’s lead to 2-0. After holding the blueline well, winger Adrian Kempe received a pass from defenseman Drew Doughty in the slot. Kempe then fed Kuzmenko at the top of the right circle who let a shot fly into the top left corner of the goal above the blocker of Pickard. This was Kempe’s 200th career assist. Kuzmenko also continues to pile on the points after a relatively slow start. He is now up to 11 points in his 16 games since joining Los Angeles.
“He’s a high skill guy,” Kopitar said. “His offensive zone play is very impressive. How he creates stuff when you don’t necessarily think that he can create. And he’s been getting on the score sheet so it’s definitely good for the confidence.”
The Kings’ final goal would come from winger Trevor Lewis on an empty net with about three minutes to go in the third period.
Kuemper’s 27-save shutout means that he has let up two or fewer goals in 13 straight starts. He becomes the fifth goaltender of all time since post-1968 to do this feat. This comments on both his skill between the pipes, but also the fact that the Kings’ defense is so strong and there are very limited chances for other teams to score.
“I think we are used to those guys, [and] they are used to us,” Kopitar said. “They played hard, they had us working for everything. It’s good for us to get the win, but just the way we played too. We can take a lot of positives out of it.”
The team is certainly used to the Oilers, getting knocked out of the playoffs by the men in orange three straight years. This matchup we will almost certainly see once again in the post season, likely in the first round. The Kings have, though, been gaining on the Vegas Golden Knights and are now only one point shy of them from first place in the division, and escaping the first round “curse” of Edmonton.
Los Angeles will look ahead to the Seattle Kraken at home on Monday at 7:30 p.m.