In Los Angeles, Jonathan Quick made 16 saves in a -0 win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers, Saturday night.
It was his 300th win, fifth on the list of US-born goalies.
“I mean, it’s tough to kind of look at in the moment,” Quick said. “In the moment, you know, you’re trying to get back towards the playoffs here. That’s all the focus is. All that extra stuff is cool and all, but it doesn’t mean much unless you’re playing for the Cup and that’s what we want to do.”
The Kings improved to 17-23-3 with the win.
“We had one player show up and play,” Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Darnell Nurse was our best player by a mile. He was one of the most competitive players on the ice and that’s all we had. We didn’t compete. Their best players were their best players.”
Anze Kopitar scored his 300th career NHL goal.
“I didn’t realize it (Quick’s milestone) until the very end,” Kopitar said. “It’s great for Quickie obviously, and he’s in my mind the best goalie in the world. It’s very comforting to have him back there and a privilege to play in front of him.”
Kyle Clifford, Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter also scored for LA.
The Oilers dropped to 19-19-3 with the loss.
“We didn’t compete, so this is on everybody,” Hitchcock said. “Everybody. When you have one player that competes at a high level in a game like this it can’t be acceptable. There’s been too much of this going on in the first 41 games. We win one and then we take our foot off the gas, and that’s exactly what we did.”
[WATCH:Â All Oilers vs. Kings highlights]
Mikko Koskinen was given the hook after the first period when he yielded three goals and made just five saves.
Cam Talbot made 14 saves after replacing Koskinen.
“I’ve only been here [21] games and I see the situation motivates them. We lose, we get embarrassed, we get motivated, and that isn’t a playoff team. That isn’t a playoff attitude, and we have to change. But this can’t be acceptable,” Hitchcock said.
Twenty-one games and not much has really changed in Edmonton after those games.
The real change will happen happen when Oilers brass make the tough decisions to shed the lackluster efforts.
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