Edler hit on McDavid causes ruckus as Kings top Oilers 3-1
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Things heated up when L.A.’s Alex Edler apparently stuck the knee out on Connor McDavid early in the second period
The Edmonton Oilers’ Darnell Nurse (25) tries to fight the Los Angeles Kings’ Alexander Edler (2) during second period NHL action at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Wednesday Nov. 16, 2022. Photo by David Bloom /David Bloom/Postmedia Article content
The new sweaters looked pretty nice.
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This concludes all of the good news that came out of Edmonton’s game with the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
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In the first meeting between the two teams since Edmonton knocked Los Angeles out of the playoffs in seven games last year, the Kings smothered the Oilers into a 3-1 defeat.
L.A.’s measure of revenge doesn’t make up for being punted out of the playoffs, but it still hurts. The Kings pulled five points ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific Division standings, dropped the Oilers home record to 4-6 and left them with just two wins in their last seven games.
“We know these guys well and that kind of game script fit right into their game — they score early and just kind of sit back and hold on,” said Connor McDavid, who saw his 10-game point streak come to an end while Leon Draisaitl’s ended at 11.
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“That’s the game they want to play. We knew that. They didn’t come out and surprise us with anything.”
For a team that came into the game looking to improve its starts, its team defence and the number of shots it allows, the Oilers missed the mark on all three in the first period.
They gave up a breakaway up the middle on the first shift of the game, gave up the 1-0 goal at 4:23 and were being outshot 12-2 through the first 11 minutes.
It’s the third time in four games that they’ve been late to their own party. The shots in Tampa were 11-1 through 10 minutes and in Florida it was 11-0 through nine minutes.
“I think it’s definitely something that we’ve talked about, starting on time,” said Oilers winger Zach Hyman. “The shot clock can sometimes be deceiving, but when you’re down 10-0 it means that the other team’s got the puck a lot. One thing we need to get better at is starting faster and that leads to getting the first goal.”
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Trevor Moore’s opening goal, on L.A.’s third shot of the game, marked the sixth time in 17 games that Edmonton was down 1-0 inside the first five shots.
“Obviously we would have liked to get off to a better start,” said McDavid. “They’re a team that if you can get them down, they kind of have to open it up a little bit and get out of their structure. If they score early, you saw what happened.”
Edmonton pushed back in the second period, tying it on Hyman’s eighth goal of the season at 12:47, but the Kings restored their lead five minutes later on Moore’s back-door shot seconds after an Oilers penalty had expired.
With the shots 26-14 after 40 minutes, Edmonton clearly had another level to get to in the final period.
They couldn’t get there, though, and Moore completed the hat trick into an empty net.
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Los Angeles blocked 29 shots to Edmonton’s eight.
“From the first minute it felt like they were getting in front of everything,” said McDavid. “Credit to them, they did a lot well defensively tonight.”
The loss dropped Edmonton to 9-8 on the season, good enough for fourth in the Pacific.
“It was a hard-fought division game between two teams that played a playoff series last year, so there is a history there, and we ended up on the wrong side of it,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I thought we did a good job of sticking with things and making a game of it.”
KNEEDLESS PLAY
Things heated up when L.A.’s Alex Edler stuck the knee out on Connor McDavid early in the second period, but the officials did everything in their power to protect him from any sort of repercussions. Linesmen Shandor Alfonso and Kyle Flemington got their TV time by wrapping up Darnell Nurse before he could exact any physical revenge and then referees Jon McIsaac and Eric Furlatt decided to even up the calls.
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So, it ended up being a free knee-on-knee hit on the best player in the game.
“I didn’t like the hit,” said Hyman. “Good on Nursey for jumping in there and sticking up for Connor. It was one of those plays where (McDavid) beat a D-man and (Edler) sticks a knee out.
“Dangerous play, and it happened to me: same play, same guy. I don’t know if he’s doing intentionally or not, but you just can’t do that.”
LATE HITS — Defenceman Tyson Barrie played his 700th NHL game … D Evan Bouchard must have set some kind of franchise record by having seven shots blocked in the first period … Klim Kostin brought some good energy to the lineup, doling out a handful of rock-solid hits. The 215-pound winger absolutely crushed Drew Doughty midway through the third period.
Twitter.com/rob_tychkowski
rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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