For the first time since Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, the Edmonton Oilers battled the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 28). This divisional contest saw the Kings defeat the Oilers 4-3 in overtime. With this win, the Kings improve to 20-10-5, and with the overtime loss, the Oilers record is now 21-11-3. These two teams are evenly matched as they are now tied with 45 points through 35 games in the incredibly tight Pacific Division. There were four lead changes in this one, including the overtime winner. With that said, here’s how we got there.
Game Recap
The Oilers opened the scoring on Kasperi Kapanen’s fifth goal of the season 9:43 into the first period. Connor Brown threw the puck on net and Kapanen buried the rebound. However, the Kings answered back a few minutes later courtesy of Quinton Byfield. Warren Foegele won a puck battle down low and Byfield took the puck to the net and beat goaltender Stuart Skinner upstairs, short-side for his seventh of the season. Then, Foegele gave the Kings a 2-1 lead for his 10th of the season and first against his former club. The centering pass went off an Oilers skate, and Foegele swiped at the loose puck with one hand, and it found its way past the Oilers’ netminder 17:19 into the opening frame.
The Oilers’ power play clicked 3:20 into the second period which tied the game at two. Connor McDavid found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the slot, and his wrister beat goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his seventh goal of the season. Then, like Foegele, Viktor Arvidsson also scored against his former team to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead 11:59 into the middle frame. Leon Draisaitl found Vasily Podkolzin who made a one-touch pass to Arvidsson, and he deposited the puck past Kuemper for his fourth of the campaign. The Oilers took that lead into the second intermission.
Related: Projected Lineups for the Oilers vs Kings – 12/28/24
Los Angeles tied the game at three on Tanner Jeannot’s fifth of the season early in the third period. Jordan Spence’s slap-pass found Jeannot’s stick for the redirection, and Foegele recorded his third point of the contest. Therefore, this game needed overtime, which the Kings won for their first overtime victory of the season. Byfield scored 3:19 into extra time for his second goal of the game. He walked in and picked the corner over the glove of Edmonton’s netminder to send the fans home happy.
Both teams are back in action on Sunday (Dec. 29) in the second half of a back-to-back. The Kings host the Philadelphia Flyers while the Oilers are in Anaheim to play the Ducks. These two teams will meet again on Jan. 13 in Edmonton.
