The Edmonton Oilers won for the sixth time in their last seven games, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 in a key Pacific Division matchup at Rogers Place on Monday.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid celebrated his 28th birthday by scoring the game’s lone goal, assisted by longtime teammates and close friends Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse, while netminder Stuart Skinner stopped all 30 shots he faced to record a shutout.
This was just the 11th regular season game in franchise history that the Oilers have won in regulation by a score of 1-0. Edmonton also defeated Los Angeles 1-0 in regulation during the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With the result, Edmonton moves four points ahead of the Kings for second place in the division and is now just four points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the division lead. Los Angeles has two games in hand on both Vegas and the Oilers.
Skinner Keeps on Winning
Skinner was named the game’s first star, and deservedly so, after coming up with some big saves on Monday. He wouldn’t let the opposition score first, and once his team gave him the lead, the 26-year-old goalie protected it.
This was Skinner’s second shutout of the season, although he also shared a clean sheet with backup Calvin Pickard last week when Edmonton defeated the Boston Bruins 4-0 on Jan. 7. Skinner started and finished that game at TD Garden but missed the final 5:25 of the second period after being run into by Bruins blueliner Nikita Zadorov.
All this is to say that Skinner has been playing exceptional lately. After a lacklustre start to the season which might have cost him a spot on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster, Skinner is 11-3-1 with a 2.09 goals-against average (GAA) and .925 save percentage (SV%) in his last 15 games. His statistics over the past several weeks rank among the very best in the NHL.
This is not unlike last season, when Skinner struggled out of the gate, only to elevate his game significantly around the holiday season. He remained at a high level all the way to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, and Oilers fans hope he follows that same trajectory in 2025.
Oilers Deploy ‘Convenience Store’ Lineup
For just the fifth game this season, Edmonton dressed a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defencemen. This is not a normal strategy for Kris Knoblauch, who has gone with the 7-Eleven lineup only eight times in his 112 regular season games as Oilers head coach.
The move allowed defenceman Josh Brown to return to action after sitting out Edmonton’s last game, a 4-3 road win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (Jan. 11).
Edmonton was perhaps expecting a heavy game against L.A., and Brown fits that profile. The 6-foot-5 blueliner provided the Oilers with some much-needed physicality in his previous two appearances since being recalled from the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Jan. 4.
Related: Josh Brown Can Provide What Oilers Are Missing on Defence
As it turned out, the game wasn’t overly physical at all. Los Angeles had just eight hits, tying its season low, while the Oilers, who average the fewest hits in the league, registered 15 of them. Brown played just 5:26, the fewest minutes for any skater in Monday’s game.
Veteran centre Derek Ryan was the odd man out as Edmonton went from dressing 12 forwards in Chicago to 11 versus Los Angeles. Ryan only played eight minutes against the Blackhawks.
Edmonton is now 3-1-1 this season with a 7-Eleven lineup. The Oilers went 2-5-1 when dressing 11 forwards and seven rearguards in 2023-24.
Historic Birthday for McDavid
McDavid wasn’t serving any birthday cake to the Kings, but the superstar centre did dole out a big hit to Alex Laferriere on Monday.
With the score tied 0-0 late in the second period and his team needing a jumpstart, McDavid leveled the Kings forward, who took exception and got back up in McDavid’s grill. Edmonton forward Kasperi Kapanen then jumped in to defend his captain, and when the dust settled, Laferriere and Kapanen were both sent to the box for two minutes.
Edmonton went on the attack during the ensuring four-on-four, with Draisaitl wrapping around the net and feeding the puck to Nurse, whose initial shot was stopped by Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper, but McDavid found the rebound and buried it at 18:37 of the second period.
It would turn out to be a historic goal, as McDavid has now tied Hall-of-Famer Glenn Anderson for most game-winning goals in franchise regular season history, with 72 apiece. Draisaitl is not far behind, with 70.
McDavid also became only the second player in franchise history to score a game-winning goal on his birthday. Draisaitl has done it three times, but all on the road.
Edmonton is heading back on the road for its next three contests, beginning Wednesday (Jan. 15) at Xcel Energy Center against the host Minnesota Wild.
