Connor McDavid scored the game’s lone goal and Stuart Skinner provided a shutout to power the host Edmonton Oilers to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse picked up assists as McDavid scored on his 28th birthday.
Skinner made 30 saves for his second shutout of the season, while Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 of the 30 shots that he faced in the Kings’ crease.
During four-on-four play, Draisaitl fed a pass to Nurse, who was unable to bury his one-timer, but McDavid found the back of the net on the rebound to give the Oilers the lead at 18:37 of the second period.
The Kings had the game’s first strong scoring opportunity, as Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar came streaking down the ice on a two-on-one just under five minutes into the first, but Skinner slid across the crease and robbed Kempe of a marker before the puck trickled onto the top of the net.
McDavid was held in check for most of the first period but found himself open with 4:58 left while on the power play.
The Oilers superstar took a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and got off a close-in shot that was turned aside by Kuemper.
Los Angeles’ Quinton Byfield looked poised to break the deadlock with 14:31 left in the second period. After taking the puck away from Draisaitl, he stormed down the ice before zipping his snap shot off the crossbar.
With 4:34 remaining in the middle frame, Mattias Ekholm saw his opportunity to notch the game’s first goal.
After some pretty passing from his teammates, the Oilers defenseman loaded up and wired a slap shot off the post.
The Oilers continued to apply pressure on the Kings, and just over a minute later, Nugent-Hopkins was unable to score on a slot shot but had the rebound bounce back off him and just over the net.
Then, with just 1:23 remaining in the second, McDavid struck.
With just under 15 minutes left in the third period, Viktor Arvidsson fed an open Draisaitl, but Kuemper kicked out his pad to keep the Kings’ deficit at one.
McDavid later nearly scored his second goal of the night with the net empty, but his shot rang off the post.
–Field Level Media
