The Los Angeles Kings bought the heavy hockey to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in OT on Saturday. The Kings had 25 hits to 13 for the Oilers, and won some key board battles to score goals.
In the end, the Grade A shots were 16 for the Oilers, 16 for the Kings, with the subset of most dangerous 5-alarm shots seven for Edmonton, five for Los Angeles.
Connor McDavid, 5. Far from his “A” game even as he had some great moments. Not even one shot on net. The first line had little going on the attack at even strength McD gave dirty Mikey Anderson the dirty elbow to end the first period, an example of turnabout being fairplay. Cool and sharp as always to set up Edmonton’s second goal. Set up Hyman on the power play in the third, but #18 could not drain it. He got caught tired and out of position on an LA break-in in OT that led to three Grade A shots, two of them 5-alarmers. Contributions/mistakes on Grade A shots (GAS): Even Strength +1/-3; Special Teams 2/0
Zach Hyman, 5. Had some good moments but some big misses. He flubbed a great slot pass from McDavid early on. Later in first won a board battle and burst in on a breakaway for a 5-alarm backhand attempt. He won a key board battle on RNH’s power play goal. Got a 5-alarm shot on the power play early in the third, but failed to beat Kuemper. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 2/0
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. His won battle kicked off Hyman’s first period breakaway chance. Great shot off the post to score on the power play early in the second. Brilliant back-check to thwart Kopitar in OT. But he got caught out on a two minute shift on the winning goal. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 1/0
Leon Draisaitl, 8. Far more good than bad. Major contributions to nine Grade A shots. He won the face-off to kick off the Virtuous Cycle on RNH’s power play goal, then helped finish it with a fly-by screen. Brilliant play to pick off a pass and set up Arvidsson’s goal. Great deke to help set up Hyman’s early third period 5-alarmer. He was also caught out-of-position on L.A.’s dangerous OT sequence, but that was mainly on McD.GAS: ES +7/-3; ST 2/0
Viktor Arvidsson, 7. Good game. Blasted a high and hard one through an L.A. screen at Kuemper early on and looked like he hurt him. A few shifts later his centre ice turnover sent in the dangerous Fiala on a semi-breakaway. He launched a slot harpoon on Edmonton’s third goal. GAS: ES +6/-1; ST 0/0
Vasili Podkolzin, 6. His usual solid game. He charged in for a hard high slot shot early on. Swell tip pass to set up Arvidsson on Edmonton’s third goal. He led the team with four hits. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0/0
Adam Henrique, 3. He was on the ice for every L.A. goal against, at fault on three of them. Failed to clear out the puck on the second L.A goal. Great stretch pass to send in Kapanen late in the second. He got caught in the Red Light Zone on the third L.A. goal, not watching anyone and not blocking the shot or any passing lane. He got beat in the slot on Kempe’s wicked power play shot in the third. But he went to the net and pounded a hard shot on net late in the third. He got deked out by Byfield on the OT goal, his feet stuck in cement too often in this game. GAS: ES +3/-4; ST 0/2
Kasperi Kapanen, 5. He jumped on Kuemper’s Christmas present of a rebound and scored the first goal. But he was out of position and allowed in the slot pass on the second L.A. goal. He battled hard on a break-in late in the second to launch a 5-alarm shot. He pinched and got beat on the rush on the third L.A. goal. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0/0
Connor Brown, 4. He put an outside shot on net that Kuemper barfed up to Kapanen. But he got beat as beat can be out of the corner on the first L.A. goal. Part of the chaos on the second Kings goal. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0/0
Corey Perry, 4. Won some battles in the o-zone but some defensive miscues GAS: ES +1/-2; ST 0/0
Jeff Skinner, 4. Some iffy defence. He got off a power play shot early in the third. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 1/0
Mattias Janmark, 5. Worked hard, but just OK results. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0/0
Evan Bouchard, 5. He stuck with Fiala and prevented a 5-alarm break-in shot early in the second. Part of that super iffy OT sequence, put 97 and 29 the main culprits there. Bad turnover in front of his own net in OT that led to much Edmonton despair. GAS: ES +1/-3; ST 1/0
Mattias Ekholm, 7. Good game. Solid puck intercept early on to settle a dangerous moment in the crease. His stretch pass sent in Hyman on his first period breakaway. He picked up his own blocked shot and took it hard to the net for a 5-alarmer in the second. Great block on dangerous Kempe late in the third. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST 0/0
Darnell Nurse, 4. A poor game for him, at least by his recent standards. He made a fine stretch pass to send in Janmark early on. He tipped in the second Kings goal. Out of position as Oil turned it over and Jeannot broke in for a Grade A in the second, then was late to the shooter Danault on a slot scramble. He got caught flat-footed on the outside shot on the third L.A. goal. GAS: ES +3/-4; ST 1/0
Troy Stecher, 4. He lost a board battle and a micro-second late to the check on Byfield on the first L.A. goal. Not his best game against big L.A. forwards. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0/0
Ty Emberson, 6. Held his own,. He went hard to the net on Kapanen’s first period goal, creating some useful distraction. In the middle of some hard hits. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0/0
Brett Kulak, 4. His check Foegele put on net the second L.A. goal. A rough game on defence. GAS: ES +2/-4; ST 0/0
Stuart Skinner, 6. Lots of action, did OK. He was deep in his net and went down and Byfield went high on the first L.A. goal, but much sharper on Fiala’s break in shot a moment later. His own teammate Nurse tipped in the second L.A. goal. No chance on the third goal against, then came up with a huge save on Kempe. He came up huge early in OT with a number of massive saves. Tough play on the winning goal, in part because his mask was loose and the ref failed to call it dead.