Oilers double Kings, 4-2 Oilers are two points clear of the Kings for third in Pacific

In Edmonton, the Oilers’ Evan Bouchard hit for a goal with 85 seconds gone in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie with the Los Angeles Kings on Monday to help send Edmonton to a 4-2 win.

The win put the Oilers two points clear of the Kings for third in Pacific Division.

Stuart Skinner made 38 saves in the win.

“He was incredible for us and has been for a long time,” Bouchard said of Skinner. “When he plays like that, it’s hard to score on him and it gives us that much more confidence.

“I think we’ve got to have a little better start to us, but against those guys, you’ve got to be patient. They’re a team that we’ve seen a lot over the past few seasons. Divisional games are always big, so that was a good win for us.”

The Oilers improved to 34-20-2, ending a three-game skid.

LA took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a goal by Trevor Moore at 6:45.

“We were in a good spot going into the third, and they had a better jump than we did at the start and we couldn’t get our momentum back there,” Moore said. “We took a couple of penalties, and it was a tough night.

“I thought we had a good 40 (minutes) going, and it goes to show you how fast it can flip, but we’ll rebound.”

Edmonton tied the game, 1-1, on a marker from Zach Hyman with 24 seconds left in the first.   The goal came after a turnover by LA’s Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The Kings dropped to 29-18-10,

“I thought we played hard and used a lot of energy the first two periods. We didn’t give them much at all and we were a little bit sloppy to start the third,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “They scored a nice goal, got in front of the net and shot it. It was fairly simple, but good execution by them. And then we tried, their goalie made some saves, and I thought Skinner played really well the second half of the game.”

In the middle frame, LA recaptured the lead, 2-1, with a strike by Alex Laferriere at 7:34.

Leon Draisaitl hit off the power play at 15:56 of the second to send the game to the third period tied, 2-2.

“We didn’t create as much as we wanted and didn’t spend enough time in their zone,” LA’s Anze Kopitar said. “There are just moments in the game where we have a power play and trying to get up 3-1, and that could have been a big difference for us, and we weren’t able to score.

“And on the flip side, they get a power-play goal about 10 seconds into their power play.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sealed the win with a a goal at 16:31 of the third for the 4-2 final count on the scoreboard.

“We’ve played them enough, we know the way they play,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We obviously have a plan for that. It’s a patient game. You have to be able to stick with it the whole 60 and not get frustrated.

“I definitely think it was a good time for a game like this, just to simplify our game and not turn the puck over. We’ve been talking a lot about simplifying our game, and tonight we had to do it and I thought we did a good job.”

David Rittich made 27 saves in the loss.