The Kings vs Oilers recap comes down to one lopsided number. The Los Angeles Kings outshot the Edmonton Oilers 40-16 on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena and still lost 4-1. Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists in his 800th NHL game, Devon Levi made a career-high 39 saves, and the Kings fell to 0-3-2. The Associated Press notes that Los Angeles and Philadelphia are the NHL’s only winless teams.
Before the game, the question was whether the Kings’ reshuffled lines and their five-on-three practice would finally produce goals. Our Kings vs Oilers game day preview covered that. The shots came. The goals did not.
Kings vs Oilers Recap: How the Goals Happened
The scoring summary below is from NHL.com’s gamecenter. The AP, ESPN and LA Kings Insider describe the goals the same way.
- 1st, 7:16, Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl, from McDavid and Evan Bouchard. LA Kings Insider says a Kings player dropped a stick in his own zone, and McDavid went around the outside before setting up Draisaitl.
- 1st, 8:16, Edmonton (power play): Vasily Podkolzin, from McDavid and Bouchard. Drew Doughty had gone to the box for tripping. McDavid blew past Mikey Anderson, Darcy Kuemper made the first save, and Podkolzin scored on the rebound.
- 1st, 15:48, Edmonton: McDavid, from Ty Emberson and Jason Dickinson. The Kings had just had their best shift of the period. McDavid came off the bench, took Emberson’s pass at the blue line and scored on a backhand.
- 2nd, 17:29, Los Angeles: Brandt Clarke, from Scott Laughton and Trevor Moore. It was a point shot through traffic that deflected off Levi’s arm, per LA Kings Insider. It was Clarke’s first goal of the season.
- 3rd, 17:42, Edmonton (empty net): Podkolzin, from McDavid and Draisaitl.
On shots: the AP and ESPN list Edmonton with 16. NHL.com’s game data lists 17, and the difference is the empty-net goal. Kuemper stopped four of seven, and Anton Forsberg stopped all nine he faced in relief.
The Goalie Change
Kuemper allowed three goals on seven shots in the first period and was replaced by Forsberg to start the second. “For me, at that point, you’re 3-0 in the period and it’s just that we had to change things up,” Peter Laviolette said, per LA Kings Insider. On Monday, Laviolette had said Kuemper had “been really good” in his last two outings, so this was a quick turnaround.
Laviolette did not put the first period on Kuemper alone. He described each goal. “First goal, we broke a stick and ended up with duplication as we’re trying to hand the stick off to the defenseman,” he said. “Power-play goal, kind of an individual effort with a lot of speed coming at us.”
40 Shots, One Goal
“I feel like we had more than enough looks tonight, so it’s got to find its way into the back of the net,” Laviolette said. “At the end of the night, there’s 40 shots and 20 plus chances on net.” He said the top line of Artemi Panarin, Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe was “dominant at times, trying to generate in the offensive zone.”
Levi was the difference. The Oilers’ recap says he made all 18 of his second-period saves while Edmonton was heavily outshot. “LA is a team that shot a lot, and I don’t mind that,” Levi said, per the Oilers’ recap. “The defensive structure is easy to read.” He is 4-0-0 in his first season with Edmonton.
Trevor Moore was blunter. “Usually when you get a lot of shots and not a lot of production, it just means you weren’t hungry enough around the net,” he said, per LA Kings Insider. “We’ve got to get in the goalie’s eyes. He made a lot of good saves, but a lot of them looked to me like they were pretty clear shots.”
The Kings have now scored one goal or fewer in three straight games, according to the Oilers’ recap on NHL.com. They also did not score on the power play Tuesday.
Moore: “Not Good Enough”
Moore was the most direct voice in the room. “The belief is there in our group, but it’s just not at all good enough right now,” he said. “We’ve got to figure it out fast. Positive is that there’s a lot of games left.”
He also pointed at the first period. “It’s just mental lapses in the first and it feels like every game we’re having those,” he said. “We’re just making little mistakes here and there that’s just costing us games and there’s really no excuse for it.”
McDavid’s Milestone Night
McDavid had three points in the first period alone. The AP reports that he has done that in a single period 33 times in his career, 10 of them in a first period. He came into the game with 13 points, according to the Oilers’ preview, so he now has 17. ESPN’s game story says 16, and we are flagging that difference. Edmonton is 5-0-1 and has won five straight. Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did not play, per the AP.
Milestones on the Kings Side
LA Kings Insider’s postgame notes included these:
- Drew Doughty played his 1,284th regular-season game. That moves him past Ken Daneyko for 23rd among defensemen in NHL history.
- Laviolette coached his 1,599th regular-season game, passing Ken Hitchcock for eighth all-time.
- Laughton played his 750th game and got his first point of the season.
The Kings’ pregame media session with Cody Ceci and Laviolette:
What’s Next
The Kings have Wednesday off and practice Thursday at 11 a.m. at Toyota Sports Performance Center, per LA Kings Insider. They host the Boston Bruins on Saturday, October 17, at 6 p.m. PT. Mats Zuccarello and Alex Turcotte become eligible to come off injured reserve for that game, though neither has been confirmed to play.
Unconfirmed
- The Kings’ starting goalie against Boston.
- Whether Zuccarello, Turcotte or Kevin Fiala returns Saturday.
- Whether the lines change again after a fifth straight loss.
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