LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Kings had their highest shots total in four-plus seasons - and still had to go to a shootout to pin the loss on Richard Bachman in his Edmonton Oilers debut.
Anze Kopitar scored the deciding goal in the tiebreaker, helping the Kings beat the Oilers 2-1 on Sunday night for their seventh victory in nine games.
“When a guy like that gets a call up and gets a chance to play, you expect his best effort,” Kings forward Jeff Carter said.
“We tried to make it as tough for him as possible, getting bodies and pucks to the net. I thought he played a heck of a game, but we got the two points.”
The Kings outshot Edmonton 48-18 in regulation and overtime. Nail Yakupov scored for the Oilers on a power play in the second period and Mike Richards tied it less than 14 minutes later.
The Kings are 5-0 in games that have gone past regulation. Jonathan Quick improved to 4-0 in shootouts, having stopped 10 of 11 shots he’s faced in tiebreakers. In 2010-11, he led the NHL with 10 shootout wins and had an .818 save percentage.
Bachman made a career-high 47 saves after getting recalled yesterday from Oklahoma City of the American Hockey League.
The three-year veteran played his first 32 NHL games with the Dallas Stars, posting a 14-10 record and a 2.94 goals-against average. AGENCIES
