One Goal Was All It Took

That one stings.

The Oilers lose 1 to 0 to the Kings Saturday night in LA and miss a chance to lock up a playoff spot. Anton Forsberg was unreal with 27 saves for his third shutout of the year. Edmonton had their looks but just couldn't beat him.

Artemi Panarin got it early and that was it.

He strips Evan Bouchard at the blue line, walks in alone, and beats Ingram glove side at 7:34 of the first. One mistake. One goal. Game over.

But here's the thing, the Oilers didn't play bad.

Nine high danger chances. Held LA to 21 shots. Connor Ingram was solid and made a couple big saves late in the second to keep it a one goal game. They pushed. They had momentum at times. Forsberg just shut the door every single time.

"I thought we played hard. It was a solid game throughout, top to bottom. Everybody was in there, contributing, getting chances. We just couldn't find a way to get one." — Adam Henrique

Head coach Kris Knoblauch saw it the same way.

"We did a lot of good things. I thought Ingram played really well. I thought we had enough scoring chances to certainly get more than one goal tonight. Their goalie played well, and we missed some really good opportunities." — Kris Knoblauch

And honestly, hard to be too mad about it.

No Leon Draisaitl. No Zach Hyman. No Dickinson. You go into LA, a team that needed that game, and still hold them to 21 shots. With a full lineup, that game probably looks different.

Max Jones left in the first after a hit and didn't return. No update after the game.

Connor McDavid picked up a couple penalties and looked frustrated most of the night. Just one of those games. The Kings got the lead and locked it down. Tight, boring, hard hockey.

It works in the regular season. Hasn't worked against Edmonton in the playoffs.

Vegas and Anaheim both have a shot to jump them this weekend, so these last two games matter. Colorado and Vancouver coming into Edmonton to close it out.

"We've got two left. Got to find a way to put both those in the bank. An effort like that throughout is needed, and we'll find a way to score." — Adam Henrique

They will.

Playoffs are right there.