Kempe's two goals help put Kings over Oilers, 5-1

Sun, Dec 5, 2021
NHL News (AP)

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Adrian Kempe scored a pair of goals and the Los Angeles Kings snapped a two-game skid with a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.

Rasmus Kupari, Drew Doughty and Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings. Doughty added two assists, and Jonathan Quick made 21 saves.

Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers, who lost two straight for the first time this season. Mikko Koskinen stopped 35 shots.

The Oilers got off to another bad start, as the Kings scored just two minutes in when Moore made a nice touch pass to Kupari at the side of the net for an easy tap-in past Koskinen.

The Kings made it 2-0 less than two minutes into the second period, with Kempe scoring his ninth on a wrist shot that Koskinen could have saved.

Edmonton got back into the game midway through the second period with a shorthanded goal. Nurse scored his first of the season, up high from a sharp angle past Quick. It was Nurse's first game back after missing six due to breaking a finger when he blocked a shot.

A late comeback became more difficult for the Oilers when Connor McDavid took a five-minute major with 6:33 remaining in the third period after hitting Kempe from behind. Los Angeles got a power-play goal just over a minute later by Kempe - his second of the game on a rebound from the doorstep.

The Kings added a second goal on the man-advantage as Doughty was able to rifle a shot into a wide-open net. They then got their third goal in a span of 2:19 on the major penalty power-play, with Moore finding some space in front to beat Koskinen.

NOTES: Mike Smith (lower body), Devin Shore (lower body), Slater Koekkoek (lower body), and Duncan Keith (upper body) were all out for the Oilers, while Cody Ceci remained out under COVID-19 protocol. ... The Kings were missing two players due to COVID-19: Andreas Athanasiou and Blake Lizotte. ... Kings forward Brendan Lemieux served the third of a five-game suspension for biting Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk.

UP NEXT

Kings: At Vancouver on Monday.

Oilers: Host Minnesota on Tuesday for the second game of a six-game homestand.

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