LOS ANGELES—Connor McDavid usually dominates the headlines for the Edmonton Oilers.
On Sunday night, April 28, it was the play of goaltender Stuart Skinner that put the Oilers one win away from advancing in the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Skinner stopped 33 shots for his first postseason shutout in Edmonton’s 1–0, Game 4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings that gave the Oilers a 3–1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Kings face potential elimination in Game 5 Wednesday night in Edmonton, where the Oilers will have an opportunity to move on to a second-round series against either the Vancouver Canucks or the Nashville Predators.
Vancouver owns a 3–1 lead in that series after posting a come-from-behind, 4–3 overtime victory Sunday in Nashville.
Skinner is the eighth goalie in Edmonton 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 opening-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 marked his fifth career shutout after he had two during the 2023–24 regular season.
Including first-round losses to the Oilers each of the past two seasons, the Kings have dropped four straight playoff series since 2014, when they won the second of two Stanley Cup championships in three years.
“Stuart was very solid. That is an understatement in how well he played,“ Edmonton Coach Kris Knoblauch said. ”He made a lot of key saves for us, and the rebound control was really good,”
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 defenseman 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,“ Bouchard said. ”Whether it was a shot up top, way down low, we were kind of improvising.”
Los Angeles is the only team in the postseason that hasn’t scored on the power play. The Kings were 0 for 1 on Sunday and are 0 for 11 in the series. Trevor Moore had a shot go just 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’ve 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 posted a 2–1, Game 3 victory Friday at Nashville 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 of the series. Rittich made 12 saves.
“I thought he played well,” Mr. Hiller said. “The disappointing thing is no goalie is going to win when we can’t score for him. He did his job.”
Kings defenseman Matt Roy also had a prime scoring opportunity, when the teams were at even strength in the second period, but couldn’t get the puck 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 period 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 a 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 a career. McDavid has done it three times against Los Angeles.
The Kings pulled Rittich for an extra attacker with 1:34 remaining but were unable to get a great scoring opportunity.
“These are the types of games you have to win in the playoffs,“ Oilers winger 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. We found a way tonight.”
