Adrian Kempe had a goal and two assists and Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings recorded a convincing 5-0 victory over the depleted Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov also scored for the Kings (47-24-9) who have won seven of their last eight and officially clinched home ice for the opening round of the NHL playoffs against Edmonton. The teams will face each other in the first round for the fourth consecutive year.
The Oilers (47-29-5) had a three-game winning streak halted.
Edmonton rested star forward Connor McDavid and were also without the likes of Leon Draisaitl (undisclosed), Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Trent Frederic (ankle), Zach Hyman (undisclosed), Evander Kane (hip, knee), Troy Stetcher (undisclosed) and Jake Walman (undisclosed). All but Ekholm are expected to either start the playoffs or be available within the first couple of post-season games.
“Things haven’t been going well in the injury department,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game. “Tonight everything is good.”
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Darcy Kuemper made 16 stops to earn the win in net for the Kings, and looked well on his way to collecting his sixth shutout of the season before being replaced by David Rittich (five saves) before the midway mark of the third period, seemingly for precautionary reason. Calvin Pickard recorded 31 saves in the loss for the Oilers.
TAKEAWAYS
Kings: Byfield now has goals in four consecutive games and seven points in that span. He is one point short of tying his career high of 55 points set during the 2023-2024 season. Since Feb. 1, he leads the team with 31 points in 31 games. However, late in the second period Byfield was cross-checked in front of the net and then again while he was down on the ice by defender Darnell Nurse, who earned a major penalty on the play and may face a suspension. Byfield left the game and did not return.
Oilers: Forward Connor Brown skated in his 600th career game and came into the contest on a hot streak with goals in three consecutive games and with five goals in his previous six contests, but was held off the scoresheet.
KEY MOMENT
Los Angeles made it 4-0 with a power-play goal eight minutes into the middle period as Fiala blasted his career high and team-leading 35th goal of the season off of Pickard’s glove and in. He now has seven goals in his last six outings.
KEY STAT
Edmonton has defeated Los Angeles in the opening round in each of the past three seasons. The Oilers needed seven games to knock out the Kings in 2022, eliminated them in six games in 2023 and were victorious in five games in 2024. The Oilers had home-ice advantage in all three of those previous post-season matchups.
“Our record at home and away is almost identical,” Knoblauch said. “It is always nice to play here at Rogers and have the support of the fans and we would like that but we are as good of a road team as we are at home.”
UP NEXT
Kings: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Oilers: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
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