EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) 鈥� Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Thursday night in a matchup of teams jostling for home ice in a possible first-round playoff clash.
Leon Draisaitl had three assists, Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Adam Henrique and Cody Ceci also scored for the Oilers. They are 44-23-4, going 15-2-2 at home since Jan. 1 to move five points up on the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always hard against these guys. They are as solid as they come,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e structured and responsible. They鈥檙e good, it鈥檚 always difficult. It requires a patient game, a mature game. I thought we showed that on all levels.鈥�
Stuart Skinner made 32 saves, allowing only Arthur Kaliyev's goal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to get this win and have a little more leeway in home-ice advantage,鈥� Skinner said. 鈥淏ut at the same time these guys play hard every single night and know what they have to do against us. It鈥檚 always a great battle playing against them. If we face them it will be very exciting.鈥�
Los Angeles dropped to 38-23-11, falling a point back of Vegas into a wild-card position. The Kings had won four in a row.
鈥淚t was a hard game, a lot of battles, a lot of hits from the start,鈥� Kings forward Kevin Fiala said. 鈥淚t felt like we weren鈥檛 that bad, we had good looks and it was a hard battle. There wasn鈥檛 anything open for both teams, there were a lot of chips, a lot of forechecks and not much Grade A chances overall, so I think it was like a playoff game.鈥�
The Oilers started the scoring 5:37 into the opening period with the teams playing four aside when McDavid knocked down Mattias Ekholm's point shot in front of the net and steered the puck past goalie Cam Talbot.
McDavid extended his points streak to six games with his 27th of the goal and became just the seventh player in NHL history with 120 points in three consecutive seasons. He added his NHL-leading 94th and 95th assists.
UP NEXT
Kings: At Calgary on Saturday night.
Oilers: Host Anaheim on Saturday.
___
AP NHL:
The Associated Press
