The Edmonton Oilers left Los Angeles with a 4-1 win over the Kings on Tuesday night, and they did it while surviving a heavy dose of pressure from the home side. Edmonton moved to 5-0-1, picked up its fifth straight victory, and remains the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss.
The Oilers got the night rolling the way they so often do: through their top line. About seven minutes into the first period, Connor McDavid worked the puck near the point, drove into the slot and slipped it over to Leon Draisaitl, who beat Darcy Kuemper for the opening goal. The 2024-25 Rocket Richard Trophy winner put Edmonton ahead 1-0.
Not long after, Los Angeles went to the penalty kill, and Edmonton’s power play took its turn. McDavid entered the zone and sent a shot on net. Kuemper turned it aside, but the rebound kicked right to Vasily Podkolzin in the slot, and he buried it for his sixth goal in as many games.
In his 800th NHL game, McDavid then added another milestone to the night. With the Kings pressing in the first period, Ty Emberson sprang him with a long pass, and McDavid blew past the defence before finishing for his fourth goal of the season and the 413th of his career.
From there, Los Angeles had the run of play. The Kings hemmed Edmonton in for long stretches, and late in the second period they finally got one back after Draisaitl couldn’t clear the zone. The Kings worked the puck into traffic and scored on a screened Devon Levi to make it a game again.
But Edmonton shut the door with a little more than two minutes left. Podkolzin finished off his second of the night and seventh of the season into an empty net to seal it.
The final numbers told the story of a game Edmonton probably should not have won. The Oilers were outshot 40-16, including 11-7 in the first period, 18-3 in the second, and 11-6 in the third. By the end of the night, it was hard to argue they weren’t leaning on their goaltender to survive.
Levi was the difference. He stopped 39 of 40 shots for a .975 save percentage.
After a rough Oilers debut earlier in the month, he has now turned aside 87 of 91 shots over the last three games for a .956 save percentage. Edmonton has been badly outshot in his last two starts, and he has still found a way to backstop them to wins.
Podkolzin’s start has become impossible to ignore. The winger now has seven goals in six games, and while that pace is obviously unsustainable, it has pushed him within 13 goals of the career-high 19 he set in 2025-26.
McDavid, meanwhile, piled up four assists on top of his goal in his 800th game. He now leads the league with 17 points, three ahead of Evan Bouchard, who collected two points and sits at 14.
Even with the top line driving the offence, Edmonton controlled a little under 40 percent of the expected goal share, and the other three lines fared even worse. The Oilers got the result, but it came with plenty of help from Levi.
Edmonton’s next game is at home against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. MT.
In Other News...
Oilers May Have Pulled Off Two Steals And One Looks Even Bigger
The early returns on Edmontons recent trade work have been hard to ignore, especially with Vasily Podkolzin giving the forward group a burst the Oilers could use. He has scored seven goals in six games and already looks like the kind of addition that can push deeper into the lineup over time, not just fill a spot in the middle six. For a team that has opened the season with a strong record, those kinds of quick returns can make a front office look awfully sharp.
Devon Levi has added a different kind of value in goal, staying undefeated and turning in impressive numbers in his recent starts. His arrival gave Edmonton another option in a position where stability always matters, and the fact that both moves are paying off at once has only raised the profile of the deals. One looks like a timely boost, the other may be starting to feel like a bigger swing altogether, which is exactly the sort of outcome the Oilers were hoping for. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Face A Goaltending Decision That Could Define Their Season
Early in the season, the Oilers are already staring at a familiar but urgent problem in net, with Tristan Jarry, Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi all under scrutiny as the club tries to steady the position. It is the kind of issue that can quietly shape everything around it, from the way Edmonton manages its games to how much pressure lands on the skaters in front of the crease.
The market for a fix looks complicated. Connor Hellebuyck, Sam Montembeault, Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill all surface as possible answers, but each comes with real obstacles tied to contract status, performance concerns or the sheer difficulty of prying a goalie loose. For now, Edmonton may be left weighing whether the cleanest move is no move at all, and simply hoping one of its current options settles in before the season gets away from it. [Read more 🡒]
McDavid Sees Something Real In This Oilers Start
The Oilers keep stacking up early points, and the latest one came in a 4-1 win over the Kings that pushed Edmonton to 5-0-1 and left it as the NHLs only team without a regulation loss. It also capped a perfect three-game road trip through California, a strong enough opening to invite bigger-picture talk around a team that has not started this well since the 1984-85 season.
Connor McDavid has been right at the center of it, sitting on 17 points through six games while also making a point to single out Devon Levis work in net. For the Oilers, that kind of production up front paired with steady goaltending is exactly the sort of early-season combination that can make a hot start feel like something more durable. [Read more 🡒]