Skinner makes 33 saves, Oilers shut out Kings in Game 4

LOS ANGELES -- Stuart Skinner made 33 saves for his first career shutout in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Edmonton Oilers extended their lead in the Western Conference First Round with a 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

The Oilers lead the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be in Edmonton on Wednesday.

“I thought [Skinner] was unbelievable,” Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “I think he has shown that he’s taken steps as a goaltender. I think he’s way calmer. Positionally, very sound right now, and you really have to make a good play to beat him right now, which is obviously a great feeling for us knowing he’s the backbone of our team.”

Evan Bouchard scored the only goal of the game for the Oilers, who are the No. 2 seed from the Pacific Division.

“It’s the playoffs,” Edmonton forward Corey Perry said. “These are the types of games you have to win. It’s not going to be 6-5, 7-4 every night. You’re going to have to dig in and play defense and grind one out, and we found a way tonight.”

David Rittich made 12 saves in his first start of the series for the Kings, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific. Cam Talbot started the first three games, going 1-2-0 with a 5.30 goals-against average and .861 save percentage.

“I thought [Rittich] played well,” Los Angeles interim coach Jim Hiller said. “The disappointing thing for him is no goalie is going to win when we can’t score for him. So, he did his job, there’s no question. We had to score.”

Bouchard gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on their only power play of the game at 11:49 of the second period. He scored his first goal of the playoffs on a one-timer from the above the circles off a pass from Leon Draisaitl.

Edmonton is 8-for-15 on the power play in the series.

“We all know their power play,” Los Angeles center Phillip Danault said. “We limit them to one power play, but they find a way.”

The Kings drew their only power play of the game when Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak caught Danault with a high stick at 8:49 of the third.

Trevor Moore had a good chance during the delayed penalty but didn’t get enough elevation on his shot to beat Skinner blocker side. Los Angeles then failed to get a shot on net on the ensuing power play.

“Again, 'Stu' was great,” Ekholm said. “I thought our team defense was good. They obviously had more shots than us, but I thought we limited the chances that were quality. I didn’t feel like they had those unbelievable looks in front of our goaltender, which is good. This is one of those you have to squeak out.”

The Kings are 0-for-11 with the man-advantage in the series.

“We talked about it this morning. We said we had to win the special teams battle, whatever that looked like,” Hiller said. “We didn’t win the special teams battle, we didn’t get the win.”

NOTES: Oilers forward Connor McDavid had the secondary assist on Bouchard's goal and has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in the series. He is the eighth player in NHL history to get at least 10 points in a series five times, and the eighth to do so in three consecutive series. ... Perry played in his 200th playoff game, becoming the 22nd player in NHL history to reach the mark.