The Los Angeles Kings had reason for some optimism Tuesday night as they chased the Winnipeg Jets for the final playoff spot in the west. They were a point out but facing the Edmonton Oilers, a team they thrashed just a week ago.
But the Oilers demonstrated a bit of pride and damaged the Kings’ playoff chase with a 4-2 win.
“It’s a disappointing outcome,” Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin said. “We were a little 
sluggish early on and it kind of carried on throughout the game. They capitalized on our mistakes and we didn’t do that back to them. All we can do is regroup and get some energy back in the room and some positive vibes going, and go to Calgary and get two points there.”
Richard Bachman made 25 saves for the Oilers win.
“I was proud of the way the guys played, the way they helped me out, especially not playing in a week and having pretty much just one practice before this,” Bachman said. “I was pretty proud of the guys and their effort. I thought they did a great job matching their physicality, they’re a big team. It was great. The last week was extremely tough and to be back with these guys is great and doing what you love, shows how fortunate you are to be here and to be doing this, because not a lot of people can.”
Benoit Pouliot and Tyler Pitlick scored for Edmonton and Matt Fraser scored twice.
“We just didn’t have enough energy, enough jump,” LA’s Anze Kopitar said. “It just wasn’t good enough. We didn’t play our style of game. It was too run-and-gun. When you play a team like Edmonton with all of their speedy forwards, it hurt us. I don’t know what the reason was, it just wasn’t good enough. That’s the bottom line.”
Martin Jones got the start for LA in place of Jonathan Quick who was given a night off.
“We looked at our schedule and you have to use them both,” coach Darryl Sutter said when asked why he gave Quick the night off. “He had a strong game tonight. It wasn’t a decision that was made yesterday, it was made a few days ago.”
Now the Kings need to win out and get help along the way to defend their Cap from 2014.
Both the Jets and Calgary Flames won on Tuesday night.
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