Connor McDavid scored the only goal of the night as the Edmonton Oilers won their second game in a row by beating their Pacific Division rival Los Angeles Kings 1-0 on Monday.
Stuart Skinner made 31 stops in net to earn his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career for the Oilers (27-13-3), who have won six of their last seven games to move ahead of the Kings into second place in the Pacific. The Oilers are four points behind the front-runner Vegas Golden Knights.
The Kings (24-12-5) have lost two straight on the heels of a five-game winning streak.
Darcy Kuemper recorded 29 saves in the loss for the Kings.
Los Angeles: Despite the loss, Kuemper has been tremendous in net for the Kings this season, coming into the game with a 12-2-5 record with a stingy 2.16 GAA and .921 save percentage. He had earned at least a point in his 10 previous appearances, just the fourth goalie in franchise history to do so and the first since Robb Stauber in 1992.
Oilers: Star forward McDavid celebrated his 28th birthday and ended up tied for third in NHL history for points by the time he hit that age with Detroit Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman with 1,040 points — although McDavid did so in 73 fewer games. Only Wayne Gretzky (1,773) and Mario Lemieux (1,174) had more points in their career by the time they hit 28.
Edmonton finally broke the scoreless deadlock with 1:23 to play in the second period as Leon Draisaitl won a race for the puck and took it behind the net before feeding it in front to a pinching Darnell Nurse. Kuemper made the save on Nurse’s blast, but the rebound came to McDavid and he deposited his 17th goal of the season into the Kings’ net.
The Pacific Division has featured the NHL’s three hottest teams since Nov. 27, including the two squads featured in Monday’s tilt. The Kings came into the game with a 13-3-2 record during that span for a winning percentage of .778. Edmonton has been a close second at 15-4-1 (.775). Sitting in third are the Vegas Golden Knights at 15-5-1 (.738).
Kings: Visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Oilers: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
