Jonathan Quick made 31 saves as the Los Angeles Kings blanked the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 Sunday night.
The best-of-seven series is tied 2-2. Game 5 will be Tuesday at Rogers Place. (630 CHED, Face-off Show 6 p.m., game at 8 p.m.).
“They come out and we know they’re going to respond,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said after the game.
“We were losing puck battles early and letting them get to our net a little too easy and they put pucks on net and they worked and we didn’t respond well enough early and that’s a tough team to come back on — so we’ve got to learn from this and move on to game five at home.”
The Kings took the lead eight minutes into the game. Phillip Danault drove the net and dropped a pass to Trevor Moore who flipped in his second of the series. Six minutes later, Troy Stecher’s shot ticked in off Duncan Keith’s stick to make it 2-0 Kings.
The Oilers had the game’s first power play in the second period, but the Kings had the best chance. Phillip Danault took the puck away from Tyson Barrie at the blue line and went in alone. Mike Smith came up with the save.
Late in the second, Kailer Yamamoto’s shot glanced off Quick’s shoulder and hit the crossbar. Seconds later, Quick made a great save on Evander Kane. Quick made both stops despite having lost his glove on the play.
With five minutes to go, Carl Grundstrom drove to the net down the right side. He was taken down by Darnell Nurse and slid headfirst into Smith, forcing the puck over the goal line in the process. The Oilers challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood. Grundstrom added an empty netter.
“They weren’t going to just roll over and let us come steal another game in their building, so we’ve got to move on and be ready for a big one in our building,” Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse said.
Smith finished with 42 saves. Both teams were 0/3 on the power play.
“I didn’t think we started anywhere near where we needed to start,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We knew they were going to come with a push and we didn’t weather it very well — or certainly not the way we wanted to — and we fell behind in the game and we certainly had our chances to score, but sometimes you get what you earn.”
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