In a gritty, playoff-level battle, Anton Forsberg stole the show with a 27-save shutout to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in their final home game of the season.
The Los Angeles Kings (34-26-19) shutout the Edmonton Oilers (40-30-10) 1-0 on Saturday afternoon to win their final home game of the season. Los Angeles continues to climb the standings and now has a great chance to move into the top three in the Pacific Division.
Strong defensive effort from the Kings, led by Anton Forsberg, gave Los Angeles their best home win of the year against the Oilers.
The opening period gave us the playoff intensity we expected, with both teams fighting for playoff seeding in the Pacific Division. Through nine minutes, it was a very scrappy game, with Los Angeles getting off three shots, while Edmonton getting just two shots up.
Los Angeles amped up its defensive intensity to start and was great at forechecking, forcing turnovers, applying pressure to Edmonton, creating scoring opportunities, and getting physical with the Oilers.
It was at the 12:26 mark when Artemi Panarin forced a turnover and got off to the races alone at the breakaway, scoring the goal, beating Connor Ingram to give LA the early advantage.
The biggest game that Panarin has played so far has been with Los Angeles, and he's already making big plays on the defensive end and continuing his strong play on offense.
We saw a lot of physicality between the two heated rivals, with Drew Doughty and Connor McDavid getting tangled up and pushing the goal line out of the crease, resulting in roughing penalties for both players.
We knew this would be the intensity as both teams always bring that physicality against each other, especially near playoff time.
The Oilers had a chance to tie the game a few minutes later with a loose puck, but Cody Ceci came up with the unreal defensive stop, diving behind Anton Forsberg to whack the loose puck out of the crease, keeping the Kings on top 1-0.
Turnovers and struggles to get easy shots up were costly for Edmonton in the first period, as LA did a great job setting the tone in their final home game of the season.
Forbserg was once again great in the opening period, saving all 9 shots that the Oilers threw at him, bringing that defensive intensity under the crease for Los Angeles and continuing to show why he should be the starter moving forward into the postseason.
Los Angeles was also great in the faceoff, winning 61.1%, while the Oilers won 38.9% in the first period. All this was setting up an intense second period that the Kings have struggled in all season long.
We entered the second period with the Oilers going on the power play after an offensive interference was called on Brandt Clarke. Forsberg did a good job, continuing his excellent play on defense, denying Edmonton on nearly three shots that almost went in.
The early sequences of the second period were the same as the opening frame: both teams struggled to get shots on goal and couldn't capitalize on second-chance opportunities.
LA was doing a good job creating open shots, but kept shooting the puck wide to the right, preventing the Oilers from capitalizing on their poor shots. The rest of the period would go exactly that way, neither team able to score, and the Oilers, especially, playing with no urgency or physicality.
Give credit to Forsberg for the defense and to the rest of the players for making it tough for Edmonton to score. In the first 40 minutes, neither team shot on goal in double digits, with all shots single-digit.
It was smash-out physical hockey being played out there, with intense defense, and the Kings, recognizing their playoff lives were on the line, were playing with more urgency and physicality than the Oilers.
Edmonton outshot the Kings 7-6, but still couldn't get anything going on the offensive side of things. Everything was so tough for the Oilers, who had to work hard on every possession just to get a shot on goal.
What was working well for the Kings was that they were not letting Edmonton get into transition or get any rush plays down the ice, while Los Angeles was forcing careless turnovers from the Oilers, who couldn't control the puck.
The third period was the same again: Edmonton kept turning the puck over, forcing several opportunities for the Kings to get off a shot, but couldn't convert. Even with LA leading, the lead never felt safe because it was just a one-goal cushion.
The Oilers did have the puck more in the third period, but the Kings did a good job keeping it (mostly to the outside). Forbserg, once again in the final frame, was clutch.
The game never felt like it was in the Kings' favor; despite their incredible defensive effort, they couldn't extend their one-goal lead.
Still, Los Angeles was frustrating Edmonton and Connor McDavid, which was helping the Kings in that advantage in the game.
Los Angeles had an empty net for nearly a minute, but couldn't get the puck out of the Oilers' possession. Despite Edmonton holding the puck for the entire game, the Kings were very strong on defense, not letting the Oilers tie it, and the game ended with LA shutting out Edmonton.
Key Stats
Anton Forsberg was the big hero of this game, recording his third shutout of the season and saving 27 shots against the Oilers, definitely saving the Kings, who couldn't get anything going on offense after their first-period goal. Without Forbserg, Los Angeles wouldn't have had a chance to win this game.
Panarin scored the lone goal in the first period, which was huge, considering neither team was able to score the rest of the way. No one else was really present on offense, but the defense stepped up in this win, showing what kind of difference the Kings' defense can be.
Great win, especially on the day that Anze Kopitar will be playing the last home game of his career. With this win now, Los Angeles secures its 87th point and is now two points back of Anaheim and Vegas for the second seed and three points ahead of Nashville for the final playoff spot.
The Kings will play their final three games of the season on the road, starting on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks at 6:30 PM PT.
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