EDMONTON -- The Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 in their last regular season matchup against each other ahead of their inevitable playoff matchup in the first round.
The action started for the Kings with a goal from former Oiler winger Warren Foegele just under three minutes into the contest. After a slapshot from the point from center Phillip Danault slammed off the boards, Foegele snagged the rebound and tucked in the first goal of the contest, which would be the game-winning goal.
Center Quinton Byfield would score next on the powerplay only six minutes later, pushing the score to 2-0 in favor of Los Angeles. After winger Kevin Fiala found a rebound outside of the goal, he fed winger Adrian Kempe at the top of the slot, who took a wrist shot that was tipped by Byfield at the hash marks. This was the team’s fifth powerplay goal in the past three games. The goal also extended Byfield’s goal streak up to four straight games.
Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov would hit the score sheet next for Los Angeles, making the score 3-0 a minute before the end of the first period. On a three-on-two scenario, Foegele led the break for L.A. before feeding winger Trevor Moore on the right wall. The lefty would then hit the trailing man in Gavrikov, who finished the puck in the lower right corner of the goal for his fifth goal of the season. With the assist, Moore secured his third 40-point season of his career.
Though the Kings headed into the locker room up by three goals at the end of the first frame, they would have loved to avoid the four minor penalties given up to the blue and orange. Historically, the Oilers have converted exceptionally well in the playoffs on the powerplay — especially in the first round against the Kings — so avoiding the sloppy play will be imperative if the Kings want to continue winning against Edmonton. By the end of the game the Kings would end the game with 16 PIM and the Oilers would garner an absurd 53 PIM.
Shortly after, Byfield was taken off the ice after he was cross-checked in the back of the head next to the net by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. The illegal check gave Nurse a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
Los Angeles would continue the scoring during the second period when Fiala would light the lamp on the powerplay. On the five-on-four advantage, captain center Anze Kopitar dropped a pass back to the point to Kempe, who rifled a cross-ice pass to Fiala for a one-timer sitting on the right faceoff dot for the goal to make the score 4-0.
The Kings would knock one more in past Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard, which would be the final goal of the contest a little more than eight minutes into the third frame. On a two-on-one, Kopitar passed across to Kempe, who smacked a one-timer into the goal to score 5-0.
Just after this goal, Los Angeles would replace starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper and put in backup Dave Rittich. This could be assumed to be because they did not want Kuemper to get injured, who has been a brick wall for the Kings. Either way, the two combined for a 21-save shutout and, more importantly, helped secure home ice for L.A.
The reason home ice is so important is because the Kings were by far the top team when playing at their home, with a record of 31-5-4 at Crypto.com Arena. It was a team record for the most wins at home and the franchise’s fastest time to achieve 20 wins in a season (27 games). Los Angeles also has allowed two or less goals in 14 of 17 games when playing on their home ice.
Now locked into the second-place position in the Pacific Division, the Kings will likely calm things down before their first-round rematch against the Oilers. heading into their first game, the Oilers will be scoreless in the last two contests against the Kings.
The Kings still have two more games remaining, starting with the Seattle Kraken in Washington on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
