Skinner shines as Oilers grab 3-1 lead over Kings

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Connor McDavid usually dominates the headlines for the Edmonton Oilers.

On Sunday night, it was the play of goaltender Stuart Skinner that put them a win away from advancing in the NHL playoffs.

Skinner stopped 33 shots for his first postseason shutout in the Oilers’ 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4.

Skinner is the eighth goalie in franchise history to record a postseason shutout and the first since Mike Smith had two in the first round against the Kings two years ago. The most recent was in Game 7 of the 2022 first-round series when Smith made 29 saves in a 2-0 victory.

“The Kings definitely gave me a hard time out there. I was sweating a lot by the end of the third,” Skinner said. “The guys were grinding for me. When we were getting hemmed in the defensive zone, we were able to win battles along the board and get pucks out.”

It was Skinner’s 16th postseason start. It is the fifth career shutout after he had two during the regular season.

Edmonton has a 3-1 lead in the first-round series. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Edmonton. The Kings have dropped four straight playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.

“Stuart was very solid, that is an understatement in how well he played. He made a lot of key saves for us and the rebound control was really good,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.

Los Angeles had a 33-13 advantage in shots on goal as the Kings were aggressive on the forecheck, but the difference in the game again was special teams.

The Oilers converted on their lone power-play opportunity when Evan Bouchard scored his first goal of the series midway through the second period. That made Edmonton 8 of 15 in the series.

“We were kind of taking what they were giving us, whether it was a shot up top, way down low, we were kind of improvising,” Bouchard said.

Los Angeles is the only team in the postseason that hasn’t scored on the power play.

They were 0 for 1 on Sunday and 0 for 11 in the series. Trevor Moore had a shot just go wide when the Kings had the man advantage in the third period.

“They scored one on their power play,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “We said before the game we had to win the special teams battle. We didn’t and we didn’t get the win.”

Edmonton’s 13 shots tied a franchise record for fewest shots in a playoff game. It’s also the fewest they had in a playoff win.

It’s the 11th time since 1974 and second time this year a team has won with 13 or fewer shots in a playoff game. Vancouver won Game 3 at Nashville last Friday 2-1 with only 12 shots.

David Rittich got the start in goal for the Kings after Cam Talbot had a 5.31 goals-against average and .891 save percentage in the first three games. Rittich made 12 saves.

“I thought he played well,” Hiller said. “The disappointing thing is no goalie is going to win when we can’t score for him. He did his job.”

Matt Roy also had a prime scoring opportunity when the teams were at even strength in the second period, but couldn’t get it into the net.

“Frustrated. Frustrated. Definitely got to capitalize on more, and we got some Grade-A chances as well,” Kings forward Philip Danault said. “I mean, we got to play the same way, and we got to make it difficult for them. And our back’s against the wall, so nothing to lose.”

The game’s first penalty wasn’t called until 10:46 into the second, when Los Angeles’ Andreas Englund was sent off for holding. Edmonton converted on the power play 63 seconds later when Bouchard blasted a one-timer from the point after getting the pass from McDavid.

It was McDavid’s ninth assist and 10th point of the series. That made the Oilers’ superstar center the eighth player in NHL history to have at least five 10-point postseason series in their career. Three have come against Los Angeles.

The Kings pulled Rittich for the extra skater with 1:34 remaining, but were unable to get a great opportunity.

“These are the types of games you have to win in the playoffs,” Oilers defenseman Corey Perry said. “It’s not going to be 6-5 or 7-4 every night. You’re going to have to dig deep and play defense and trying to win out. We found a way tonight.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl