LOS ANGELES - The Kings did plenty of things that usually put a team in position to win. They controlled the puck, spent long stretches in the offensive end, fired 40 shots on goal and even got more power-play chances than Edmonton. None of it mattered once Connor McDavid took over.
Edmonton walked out with a 4-1 win, and McDavid was the reason the game tilted so hard. He finished with one goal and three assists, with three of those four points coming in the first period. When the Oilers needed one more dagger, he fed Podkolzin for the empty-net finish.
“I don’t think we gave up a whole lot at all,” Coach Laviolette said. “But the ones that we gave up was to a world-class player.”
The shot totals told one story. Los Angeles had 40 attempts on net while Edmonton managed just 17.
The Kings also had four power-play opportunities to the Oilers’ three. Still, the Kings couldn’t cash in on their chances, while Edmonton did score a power-play goal.
That gap between process and result is exactly what made this loss sting. On the surface, this was the kind of game Los Angeles should have owned. Instead, McDavid turned limited chances into a runaway result and reminded the Kings how quickly a game can flip when he finds space.
The loss drops Los Angeles to 0-3-2, tying the team for the worst record in the NHL. Even with the rough start, the mood inside the room remains grounded in belief.
“It’s not from lack of caring I can tell you that much. We’re all buying in.
We all want to win so badly,” Brandt Clarke said. “It's a tight-knit group in here, it's just frustrating, it's not going our way right now.”
The Kings have been making adjustments for years, and they keep running into the same problem against Edmonton: McDavid can erase advantages in a hurry. That was the lesson again here. Even with the puck mostly on their side, the Kings couldn’t match his impact.
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