At many points earlier in the season, the narrative coming out of Monday night may have been how the Kings dominated the Oilers for 5-0 victory in Edmonton. However, these are different times with different circumstances.
Yes, with another two points earned, LA has officially claimed home ice advantage for the opening round of the playoffs. While important, in many ways that felt more like an eventuality over the past few weeks. Therefore, much of the talk coming out of this game will be about the actions of Darnell Nurse, the health of Quinton Byfield, and just how dominant Darcy Kuemper has been of late.
On a certain level, the game highlighted some rather feisty tensions growing between the two Pacific Division clubs. From the opening puck drop, the Kings looked like a team on a mission. They were dialed in, beginning with Warren Foegele scoring against his former team just under three minutes in. It marked the fourth straight game the Kings scored in the opening five minutes. Quinton Byfield followed suit minutes later with a high tip in the slot on the five-forward power play. Then, Vladislav Gavrikov capped the period with a perfectly timed rush shot that beat Oiler goalie Calvin Pickard.
And when the second period began, the physicality ramped up, as both teams combined for a flurry of penalties — perhaps foreshadowing the intensity expected when they meet again in the postseason. One thing that will be addressed at a minimum is a play in which Byfield was on the receiving end of a dirty cross check by Nurse. With around five minutes remaining in the middle frame, the Oilers defenseman intentionally hit the young LA forward in the head while he was lying on the ice. Look for the NHL Dept. of Player Safety to weigh in on the topic come Tuesday. Nurse has been known to play the game in a rather dirty way the past few years, including head butting Phil Danault in the playoffs.
Already ahead on the scoreboard, LA made things worse for Edmonton following one of their aforementioned infractions, as Kevin Fiala wired home a power-play goal to stretch the lead to 4-0. With the Kings in full control, Adrian Kempe eventually capped off the scoring midway through the final frame.
Kings coach Jim Hiller had seen enough at that point. He opted to give goalie Darcy Kuemper a breather, inserting David Rittich for the remainder of the game. The two LA netminders combined for the shutout, turning away everything an increasingly frustrated Oilers team threw at them. It also marked the second straight Kings shutout against the Oilers.
Now sitting at 103 points on the season, with two games remaining on their schedule, the Kings are one win shy of tying their single season point record of 105 set in 1974-75.
Full highlights are available below.
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