LOS ANGELES – Jarret Stoll scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of a shootout, defenseman Jack Johnson had a goal and an assist and Justin Williams connected on a power play, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for Los Angeles, back home after a five-game trip in which he posted two shutouts. The Kings are 12-2-1 at Staples Center, matching the best home start in franchise history.
Rookie Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal and Jean-Francois Jacques had his first goal of the season for the Oilers, who had won their previous five games at Staples Center — all in shootouts. Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves. The last time the Oilers visited Staples Center, the Kings peppered Dubnyk with 55 shots in a 4-3 loss.
Jacques put the Oilers ahead 2-1, redirecting Theo Peckham's long wrist shot past Quick's glove with 15:35 left in the third period. But the lead lasted just 20 seconds as Johnson beat Dubnyk to the stick side with a wrist shot from the middle of the left circle.
Hall, the first overall pick in the draft, opened the scoring at 1:39 of the second period against a penalty-killing unit that had allowed only two goals in 50 short-handed situations through the first 14 home games.
Michal Handzus was off for hooking Sam Gagner when Hall got the puck from Gagner and sped around defenseman Drew Doughty before beating Quick to the short side with a wrist shot for his 11th goal. But Los Angeles answered at 8:31 of the second against a penalty-killing unit that came in with the worst overall percentage in the league (71.3).
Johnson started the play with a long clearing pass from his own zone that Handzus deftly redirected toward a speeding Williams while standing at the Edmonton blue line with his back to him. Williams got past Ladislav Smid in the left circle and beat Dubnyk to the glove side from the edge of the crease for his 13th goal while Linus Omark was off for high-sticking Rob Scuderi.
Marco Sturm played his second game for the Kings since joining them in a trade from Boston, and his first before the home crowd. Sturm, an All-Star in 1998-99 with San Jose, never had much success as a visiting player in Los Angeles. In 18 career games against the Kings — including five at the Forum — he had only two goals and one assist, averaged 1.4 shots per contest and had a plus-minus rating of minus-7.
NOTES: Terry Murray recorded his 100th regular-season victory in his 197th game as Kings coach, breaking Tom Webster's franchise record for fastest to triple digits (211 games). It took Murray 194 games to reach that figure with Washington, and just 175 to get 100 wins with Philadelphia. In Florida, the Panthers won 79 of his 200 games with them. ... Dubnyk is 2-3-4 in his nine starts this season, and 6-13-6 in 25 NHL starts. ... Hall entered the game second in the league among rookie forwards in ice time per game. Teammate Jordan Eberle was first. ... Williams has 30 points in 33 games, one more than he had in 49 games last season.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.