Kings look finished after 3-1 Oilers win at Rexall

Lineup
Smyth	Horcoff	York	Brewer	Smith
Torres	Nedved	Dvorak	Ferguson	Staios
Moreau	Stoll	Laraque	Bergeron	Ulanov
Isbister	Oates	Pisani
			Conklin
			Markkanen
Scratched: Reasoner, Cross are day-to-day. Hemsky, Chimera, Semenov

Postgame

Ryan Smyth was doubtful for Friday night's game against the visiting Los Angeles Kings. Well as doubtful for action as he can be unless he's in a cast, a sling or a coma.

A dreadful stomach flu couldn't fell him and he'd scored the game winning goal, kill penalties and play a little over 18 minutes in what became the Oilers seventh win in their last eight attempts.

For the Kings it was what most likely amounted to their last chance to catch the Oilers and with a schedule left that includes two games apiece versus position jostling Calgary and San Jose, this was a game to either fish or realistically cut bait.

Andy Murray wouldn't admit that earlier in the week but this loss all but leaves them for dead trailing the Oilers by six points and six wins and it was a deserved passing for the way his team floundered in the first and final 20 minutes.

LA did jump out with two great scoring chances in the first shift but the shots would finish at 18-5 Oilers and they would score twice before the first horn

Fernando Pisani continued his stirring run towards 20 goals as his 15th of the season came with a full two minute two man advantage frittering away for the Oilers. But with 22 ticks left Adam Oates made a deft pass across the crease and Pisani whistled it past Kings netminder Roman Checkmanek and into the gaping net

It was Pisani's fifth goal in his last five games.

Ryan Smyth made it 2-0 with a little under eight minutes left to go in period one when he collected a Jaroslav Modry giveaway and went over the tender's glove. Still it was a gallant effort from the much malagined former bane of Bob Clarke's existence. Especially in the third period when the Kings threw caution to the win and in turn threw odd man rush after odd man rush to the Oilers.

All wasn't bad for a battle scarred Kings squad as they had a whale of a second period. Scott Ferguson just about put them on the board by himself when he gave Ian Laperriere a great one time pass. The agitator pivoted in the slot and threw a screened shot past both Marc Andre Bergeron and Oilers tender Ty Conklin to give the Kings life.

That was just 2:23 into the frame and the Kings brought the hustle and muscle for the rest of the period and came very close to knotting the score when they enjoyed back to back man advantages in the latter section of the period.

The Oilers didn't bend, though, as their home penalty killing continued a remarkable run and Petr Nedved added insult to injury when he backhanded a waterbottle dancer over Chechmanek just a little over 1:30 left in the period.

That ended any chance of a Kings comeback in not just the game but most likely the season.

Three Stars

Ryan Smyth - Another great effort as Monday night in LA marked the return of the dominant play he'd begun after York suffered the injury in Colorado so many games ago.

Petr Nedved - How many Oilers could put the puck in the roof while being so close to the goal? Nedved's play has lagged a little lately but this goal was big. 17:28 of ice for the former Ranger who's in a playoff position for the first time in seven years.

Roman Checkmanek - Almost pulled the Kings out of the early penalty jackpot with an amazing glove save on Raffi Torres. 29 saves and looked very steady.

Out of Town Scoreboard

Whew, where to begin? Oilers move back into 7th one point ahead of 8th place Nashville but trailing the Preds by one win and keeping in mind Nashville own the second tiebreaker, ie head to head play. They'll play their current game in hand tomorrow when they host the Blue Jackets. If you have Centre Ice you can see it at 6PM MST on Ch 417. The Blues now sit in 9th place but trail the Oilers by just two points and lead them by one win and have two games in hand. They'll use one of those tomorrow when they host the Hawks. You can see that game on Ch 411 at 3PM MST. Meanwhile the Oilers now trail the Flames by just three points but also by five wins which means right now the Oilers cannot catch them to force the second tiebreaker...which they would lose anyway because of the Flames head to head domination. So they basically trail the Flames by four points. Calgary entertains the Kings tomorrow and for those with digital cable or sattelite dish you can catch that game at 4PM MST on ABC West.

Oil Gauge

Scott Ferguson drew in for Cory Cross who's suffering from the flu. A flu at this time of the year could be anything from an upper or lower body injury to it being code for "what was Cross doing behind the net on Wed night when Brendan Morrow was ruling the Oilers crease on the 3-3 goal." In any case the playing of Ferguson over Alexei Semenov raised some eyebrows and then those brows furrowed in disgust when #32 gave the Kings a great chance for their first goal. He would finish at 11:08 of icetime and at -1....Ales Hemsky and Jason Chimera drew the scarlet letters of both healthy and scratch and in their place were Mike York and Brad Isbister. York had two great chances to score but his shot is virtually non-existent given the injury to his fingers. Nevertheless MacTavish saw fit to give him him a spot on the top line, 17:53 of icetime and 2:53 of that coming on the PP. Isbister played just 8:59 but was a very effective physical presence and really seemed to take to a fourth line role which hasn't always been the case this season...A pretty light night for Ty Conklin as he stopped 18 of 19 shots and the Kings really only seemed dangerous when they were on the powerplay or when Scott Ferguson was on the ice. But Ty didn't give LA anything easy and it's long been argued that the Oilers could stay in most games as long as they didn't lose the netminding battle.

Next Game

Sunday night as the Phoenix Coyotes finish out the regular season home string for the Rexall faithfull. Game time is 6PM MST and can be seen on SN West.