Draisaitl, Bouchard help Oilers beat Kings 4-2 to snap three-game skid
Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard each had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Monday night to snap a three-game skid.
Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored and Connor McDavid had two assists to help the Oilers move two points up on the Kings for the third place in the Pacific Division. Stuart Skinner stopped 38 shots.
“It’s probably good timing the way our game was trending lately, to have a game where you have to play simple and stay in it the whole 60,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We did a great job of that.”
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm agreed, adding: “I think this is more of the recipe that we are looking for. ... It was a 60-minute game for us and maybe we haven’t had too many of them as of late. This was as close as we have gotten in the last 10 games or so.”
Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere scored for the Kings, who had won five of their previous six games. David Rittich finished with 27 saves.
“We were in a good spot going into the third and they had a better jump than we did at the start and we couldn’t get our momentum back there,” Moore said. “We took a couple of penalties and after that it was a tough night. I thought we had a good 40 going and it goes to show you how fast it can flip, but we’ll rebound.”
The Kings started the scoring 6:45 into the opening period as the puck came off the back boards to Quinton Byfield and he shoveled it back to Moore, who beat Skinner with a wrist shot for his 22nd goal of the season. It was the eighth time in the last 11 games that the Oilers allowed the first goal.
Edmonton came close to tying it with seven minutes left in the first period as Hyman had Rittich beat with a backhand shot, but rang the puck off the post.
Hyman made up for that miss with 24 seconds to play in the first, taking a feed from McDavid at the left faceoff dot and blasting a one-timer past Rittich for his team-high 38th — extending his goal-scoring streak to five games. McDavid extended his home point streak to a career-high 23 games.
Los Angeles moved back in front at 7:34 of the second period as Oilers defenseman Bouchard badly missed a check to allow a 2-on-1, which was finished off by a glove-side shot by Laferriere for his eighth.
The Oilers evened it up again on the power play with four minutes to play in the second as Bouchard sent a shot from the point that was deftly deflected by Draisaitl for his 29th.
Bouchard continued to atone for his earlier gaffe, putting the Oilers in front for the first time just 1:25 into the third as he unleashed a bomb from the point that beat Rittich high to the glove side for his 15th, moving him into a tie with Calgary's MacKenzie Weegar for the league lead for goals by a defenseman.
The Oilers put the game away with 3:29 to play as Connor Brown made a great pass up to Nugent-Hopkins heading to the net with speed and he chipped home his 16th.
“I think this was good for us, having a victory against a quality opponent and especially a team we were tied with going into it,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Up next
Kings: At Calgary on Tuesday night in the second of a three-game trip.
Oilers: Host St. Louis on Wednesday night to finish a five-game homestand.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'There's mom and dad's house': New video appears to show destruction of Jasper neighbourhood
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
LIVE SOON Extent of Jasper wildfire damage still unknown; Alberta Wildfire hosting update
Officials are waiting to learn Thursday morning the extent of wildfire damage in the Jasper townsite of Jasper National Park, which flames began to eat away at the night before.
Jennifer Aniston criticizes JD Vance for 'childless cat ladies' remarks: 'I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children'
Jennifer Aniston is criticizing JD Vance for comments he made in his past about women without children.
WATCH LIVE Jasper wildfire burns buildings, while poor air quality forces some fire crews out
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
Prince William made $42 million from his newly inherited estate last year, reports show
Newly released financial reports show that William, the Prince of Wales, drew a salary of $42.1 million last fiscal year, his first since inheriting the vast and lucrative Duchy of Cornwall.
Melania Trump to tell her story in memoir, 'Melania,' scheduled for this fall
Former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out this fall, 'Melania,' billed by her office as 'a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.' It's the first memoir by Trump, who has been mostly absent as her husband, former U.S. President Donald Trump, seeks to return to the White House.
Spicy dispute over the origins of Flamin' Hot Cheetos winds up in court
A former PepsiCo executive is suing the company, saying it destroyed his career after questioning his claim that he invented the popular flavor of Cheetos snacks.
NASA says no return date yet for astronauts and Boeing capsule at space station
Already more than a month late getting back, two NASA astronauts will remain at the International Space Station until engineers finish working on problems plaguing their Boeing capsule, officials said Thursday.
Canadian women's soccer team staffer given suspended prison sentence over drone incident, prosecutor says
A Canada women's soccer team staffer has been given an eight-month suspended prison sentence after flying a drone to film the closed-door training session of the New Zealand team on Monday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.