EDMONTON — Connor McDavid had a pair of goals to take over the NHL scoring lead as the Edmonton Oilers won their third straight game, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Saturday.
Pontus Aberg also scored for the Oilers (34-36-5) who have gone 4-1-1 in their last six games, a span during which they were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Jake Muzzin and Jeff Carter replied for the Kings (41-28-7) who have lost two of their last three in the midst of a tight battle for third place in the Pacific Division with Anaheim.
The Oilers started the scoring just 45 seconds into the first period when Aberg hooked a puck from behind then net past surprised Kings goalie Jonathan Quick for his sixth point in the last three games.
Edmonton made it 2-0 with 4:28 left in the opening frame when McDavid had a strong second effort to bang his own rebound under Quick's stick for his 37th of the season.
However, the Kings bounced back just 28 seconds later when Muzzin cleanly beat Oilers goalie Cam Talbot with a shot from the slot.
The Oilers regained the two-goal edge four minutes into the second period when McDavid sent a shot through Quick's legs on a partial breakaway. The goal officially put McDavid into the NHL scoring lead with 96 points, moving him ahead of Tampa's Nikita Kucherov.
The Kings got that goal back a couple minutes later when Tobias Rieder made a long feed to Carter, who scored at the side of the net.
Talbot made a huge stop on a shorthanded breakaway by Nate Thompson early in the third and survived some late pressure to preserve the win.
The Oilers remain home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. The Kings return to L.A. to play the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Notes: It was the fourth and final match of the season between the two teams, with the Kings winning the first two encounters and the Oilers taking the third... L.A. centre Anze Kopitar scored four goals in his team's 7-1 win over on Thursday. The last Kings player to record four in a game was current team president Luc Robitaille in 1993… Out with injuries for the Oilers were Oscar Klefbom (shoulder surgery), Michael Cammalleri (undisclosed) and Zack Kassian (undisclosed), while the Kings were healthy.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press