Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles Kings (44-23-9) defeat the Edmonton Oilers (44-27-5) in a clean 3-0 fashion at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, March 5.
With this victory, as the Stanley Cup playoffs draw nearer, this victory keeps the Kings in their second place standing in the Western Conference of the NHL. That being said, this win also serves as the last litmus test against some of the top teams in the NHL, with Los Angeles notably being beaten by the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-0 loss on the road, and losing 3-1 at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
One of the star players in this match against Edmonton was Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper who reliably kept the box score clean for Los Angeles, saving eleven Oiler shots from entering the net during the match.
Just Darcy being Darcy 🧱 pic.twitter.com/1GzhvAq0de
— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 6, 2025
That being said, the first period saw both the Oilers and the Kings battle for the hockey puck, with LA center Anze Kopitar winning the faceoff to start for his team. Indeed, despite one penalty by the Oilers — tripping committed against Kings right wing Adrian Kempe — both teams were mostly going back and forth between their respective hockey goal nets throughout, playing cut and dry ice hockey with missed opportunities left on the rink.
As the second period got rolling, though, the momentum began to shift. Despite a slashing penalty committed by Kings center Quinton Byfield, Los Angeles began their aggression onto the Edmonton net. LA King right wing Kevin Fiala swooped by the Oiler net, and with an assisted shot from Kopitar completed the offense drive and hit a backhand shot for his 30th shot of the season to give the Kings the lead, 1-0.
30 FOR KEV! pic.twitter.com/XzYsM8WmLS
— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 5, 2025
Los Angeles newcomer and left wing Andrei Kuzmenko added to the offensive pile on, when Kings defenseman Drew Doughty drew the assist shooting the puck to the left side of Edmonton’s net, when Kuzmenko saw his opportunity and landed an impressive snap shot into the hockey net, adding another tally to the box score, 2-0.
KUZ IS INEVITABLE pic.twitter.com/SiMI3tzWps
— LA Kings (@LAKings) April 5, 2025
Afterward, while the Oilers drew another penalty — slashing against Byfield — enabling the Kings with a power play, that window for more goals slowly shut as the second period drew to a close.
The third period came around, and at this point the Oilers needed to get numbers onto the box score, so they made the decision to add another player to the offensive push against the Kings net. At the same time, since they had to leave their hockey net empty in order to compromise and make more room on the other side, this left a window open for Kings center Trevor Lewis to score an empty net goal, extending the Kings lead to 3-0.
The Kings only gave up one penalty in the game, and ultimately went on to beat the Oilers 3-0 in this match. The Oilers had no offensive rebuttal during the ...
