Jake Muzzin #6 of the Los Angeles Kings tussles with Taylor Hall #4 of the Edmonton Oilers during the third period at Staples Center.
MCT/Los Angeles
Weeks of frustration paid off in a matter of seconds as Los Angeles Kings center Nick Shore kept battling, fought off Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne, got the puck and turned and quickly fired it from the slot.Game over.
Shore hadn’t scored since the opening 1:49 of the season. Those struggles faded with his goal, the first game-winner of his career, with 1:39 remaining, lifting the Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night at Staples Center.
Kings left winger Tanner Pearson had a three-point performance, a goal and two assists, and Marian Gaborik scored his second goal of the season and added an assist, his first multipoint game this season.
“I think we just kept at it for all three periods,” Shore said in his TV interview on the ice. “ There’s some things we can shore up. But it’s great to get the two points.”
Yes, he did say, “Shore up.”
Give the kid credit for a game-winning pun too.
Kings left wing Milan Lucic provided a nice screen on the goal, and was a force in front all night. The Oilers, curiously, left him alone and he took advantage, scoring to put the Kings up, 3-1, at 8:35 of the second.
Shore’s goal came seconds after a Kings power play expired, and Pearson was able to take the puck off the wall and get it to the net. “I just tried to hunt it down and throw it back toward the net,” Shore said. “I was lucky enough for it to go in. It was hopping around there in the slot and I was able to turn around and throw it toward the net. Sometimes those go in.”
Pearson and Gaborik combined for five points.
“Gabby was good early,” Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said. “Tanner’s been good. Isn’t that what Gabby’s supposed to do? So how important is it? Very important.
“That’s what he’s supposed to do. There’s not some magic there or some recipe. He’s supposed to produce.”
Gaborik entered the season having scored 374 career goals in the NHL and took an awfully long time to get to 376, creeping there by Game 17. Leon Draisaitl and Teddy Purcell responded for the Oilers. Edmonton’s Taylor Hall finished off a nice passing play to tie it, 3-3, at 15:10 of the third. It was his eighth of the season and Sutter was critical of the defense’s read.
“They’re such a good skating team and they got some open ice on ice; two of the goals were rush goals,” he said. “I think the Hall goal, our defense didn’t get very good reads on (it).”
For the Kings, who remain in first place in the Pacific Division, this was the completion of a long homestand. Overall, they’ve won 11 of their last 14 games and leave Monday for a five-game trip.
