LOS ANGELES –– ‘Twas the season for mirth, merriment and grudge matches as the Kings prevailed over the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 at Crypto.com Arena in overtime Saturday afternoon in their first game after the holiday break.
Edmonton eliminated the Kings in each of the past three postseasons, all in the first round, but the Kings won the first of their four scheduled clashes in 2024-25 behind Quinton Byfield’s game-winning snipe in overtime.
In regulation, Warren Foegele scored a goal and assisted on tallies by Byfield and Tanner Jeannot. Jordan Spence also contributed two helpers. Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves.
Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tallied for Edmonton, as did Viktor Arvidsson. He and Foegele were effectively swapped for each other during free agency in July, and both scored against their former team Saturday. Stuart Skinner beat back 25 bids.
The extra session was dominated by the Kings and capped by Byfield’s winner with 1:41 to play in overtime. He weaved high into the zone and then zigzagged into the left circle to let fly with a rising wrist shot to the far side. It was his eighth goal and first three-point game of the campaign.
Jeannot had made it a new game 2:32 into the closing stanza with his fifth goal as a King. His outlet pass to Foegele ignited an attack he finished by redirecting Spence’s pass past Skinner. Jeannot would take a hooking penalty less than a minute after his goal, but Kuemper stood tall against Evan Bouchard’s slap shot and a point-blank effort from Zach Hyman, who had 10 goals in 10 games despite being held scoreless Saturday.
Though the Kings tilted the game in their favor analytically in the second period, it was the Oilers reaping the rewards on the scoreboard and carrying a 3-2 edge into the second intermission.
Edmonton went up with 8:01 remaining in the middle frame. Vladislav Gavrikov’s indecision on the breakout led to his pass being predictably pounced upon by Leon Draisaitl, who sent the puck into the slot for Vasily Podkolzin, whose touch pass found Arvidsson for an uncontested tally. It was Arvidsson’s fourth goal of the season but his second in two games.
The Kings had held a lead and, not coincidentally, had kept the game five-on-five. Edmonton’s first power play of the afternoon changed both those realities a mere 3:20 into the second period.
Just 12 seconds after Alex Laferriere tripped up Ty Emberson, Connor McDavid made a deft dish from the goal line to between the hash marks, where Nugent-Hopkins picked his corner for a shot that beat Kuemper to his blocker side.
The Oilers struck first but it was the Kings heading into the dressing room with a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Although Arvidsson nearly scored off a tip to give the Oilers their second lead of the night, it was Foegele who was first to hurt his former team. His ostensibly imprecise stab turned into a backhanded goal, his 10th, and a 2-1 lead with 2:25 left in the first period.
The Kings had withstood not only Arvidsson’s dangerous deflection but a partial breakaway by Hyman, who had a sterling opportunity from the slot narrowly disrupted by Adrian Kempe and Mikey Anderson earlier.
They had drawn even, at 12:32, off the strong forechecking of Byfield, Foegele and Tanner Jeannot, whose relentlessness paid off when Byfield went hard to the net from below the goalline for a short-side shot that fluttered skyward to beat Skinner. It was Byfield’s seventh goal of the season and his third multipoint game of the season.
Edmonton had opened the scoring 9:43 into the match after Kyle Burroughs’ back-pass to no one sent the Oilers off on a tempered rush. Connor Brown’s shot from well above the right circle produced a surprisingly juicy rebound that was slammed home by Kapanen.