LOS ANGELES — It had been a while since Nick Shore scored, but he found the touch when the Los Angeles Kings needed it the most.
Shore scored with 1:37 remaining to give the Kings a 4-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Staples Center on Saturday.
He grabbed a loose puck, turned toward the net and scored on a wrist shot from between the circles that beat Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot. It was Shore’s second goal this season, third of his NHL career and first game-winner.
Shore had not scored since 1:49 into the season opener Oct.7.
“It feels good,” Shore said. “I was just trying to hunt it down and throw it back toward the net and I was lucky enough for it to go in … sometimes those go in. That’s what shooting pucks does.”
Marian Gaborik had a goal and an assist and Tanner Pearson a goal and two assists to help the Kings (11-6-0) win their homestand finale before a five-game trip.
Taylor Hall, Teddy Purcell and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (6-12-0), who finished their trip 1-3-0 despite a late rally.
Hall tied it 3-3 with 4:50 remaining, a one-time shot off a backhand feed from Oscar Klefbom that went between Kings defenseman Drew Doughty‘s skates for his eighth goal of the season.
Edmonton took three third-period penalties (two by Anton Lander) in the final 16:15.
“We’ve talked about that, especially in the offensive zone,” Purcell said. “They’re 200 feet away from us and have to go through six guys to get a goal so we don’t need to put ourselves in those situations. That’s definitely something that we need to clean up.”
The Kings were initially in position to win on Milan Lucic‘s goal that made it 3-1. Lucic was left unchecked in the slot and beat Talbot five-hole at 8:35 of the second period. Tyler Toffoli sent a pass to Lucic after Jeff Carter carried the puck along the boards.
The line of Lucic, Carter and Toffoli has scored 22 of the Kings’ 43 goals, so balance was needed.
“[Gaborik] was good early,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “Tanner’s been good. Isn’t that what [Gaborik’s] supposed to do? So how important is it? Pretty important … it’s not really any magic or some recipe there. He’s supposed to produce.”
The Oilers pulled to 2-1 and 3-2 on goals by Draisaitl and Purcell in the second. Draisaitl one-timed Hall’s pass to finish a rush at 5:17, and Purcell, a former King, scored on a wrist shot past a screened Jonathan Quick at 13:53.
Gaborik scored 77 seconds into the game, his first goal since Oct.18, with a shot he tucked inside the right post.
“It’s always good, after a while, to get on the board, especially in a win,” Gaborik said. “The chances have been there and I’m so glad they went in.”
Oilers coach Todd McLellan said two late offensive-zone penalties were “unacceptable” and that it’s part of the adversity a young team has to work through.
Edmonton, already without injured Connor McDavid, scratched center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins because of an illness.
“I think we’re emotionally torn because of the drive to come back against a good, hard team,” McLellan said. “That seems to be our mantra right now, ‘O’-zone penalties, mistakes at the end. It seemed to cost us. We’re in a vicious cycle. We have to find a way to get out of it.”
Kings center Anze Kopitar played his 700th NHL game.
Prior to the game, there was a moment of silence to honor the victims of the attacks in Paris on Friday.