McDavid's four points and Levi's 39 saves carry Oilers past Kings 4–1

Edmonton beat Los Angeles 4–1 at Crypto.com Arena on 13 October 2026. Connor McDavid marked his 800th NHL game with a goal and three assists, while Devon Levi made 39 saves. The Kings outshot the Oilers 40–17, but Edmonton built a 3–0 lead from seven first-period shots and never allowed the hosts to pull within one. The NHL's official game summary supplies the result, scoring sequence and shot totals; our match page carries the final score.

Three early goals changed the game

Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring at 7:16 of the first period, taking McDavid's pass and finishing from a sharp angle. Only 60 seconds later, Vasily Podkolzin scored on the power play after collecting the rebound from a McDavid shot. At 15:48, McDavid finished a breakaway after Ty Emberson's long pass caught the Kings changing. Those three plays made the first intermission score 3–0 despite Los Angeles having an 11–7 edge in shots.

That sequence is more revealing than the final margin alone. Edmonton's leading line converted its first chances, and the second goal came on a man advantage. Los Angeles replaced Darcy Kuemper with Anton Forsberg for the second period. The Kings' own final report describes the dropped-stick opening on Draisaitl's goal, the power-play rebound and McDavid's breakaway. It was not a game in which Edmonton generated more shots; it was one in which its opening opportunities had an unusually large effect on the score.

Levi protected the cushion

Los Angeles did not stop creating work for the Oilers' goaltender. The Kings put 18 shots on target in the second period alone, against Edmonton's five. Brandt Clarke scored at 17:29 of that period, but it remained the hosts' only goal. Levi finished with 39 saves from 40 shots, including a scoreless third period in which the Kings added 11 shots. The official summary also shows Los Angeles went 0-for-4 on the power play, another route back into the contest that did not produce a goal.

The shot disparity deserves care. Once a side is three goals behind, it has a strong reason to press and shoot; the leading side may spend longer protecting its advantage. The 40–17 count therefore says Los Angeles applied sustained pressure and Levi had a demanding night, but it does not by itself measure shot quality or prove the Kings controlled every phase. Edmonton still needed its goalkeeper to keep the game from tightening. Calling this simply a McDavid masterclass would miss that second part of the result.

What McDavid's milestone actually showed

McDavid assisted Draisaitl and Podkolzin, scored Edmonton's third, then assisted Podkolzin's empty-net goal at 17:42 of the third. The final play made his night a four-point performance and Podkolzin a two-goal scorer. As the NHL/Oilers recap notes, Edmonton's five-game winning streak continued; the Kings fell to 0–3–2 after five games.

The combination matters more than a single highlight: McDavid created the first two goals, scored the third and helped close the empty-net opportunity, while Levi held off the response. Edmonton can be pleased with its finishing and goaltending without treating a 40–17 shot deficit as a repeatable winning formula. For Los Angeles, the pressing after the first period was real, but the opening mistakes left too much to repair.

Readers following the wider early-season NHL slate can compare Edmonton's result with our reports on Montréal's shootout win over Buffalo and Boston's 6–3 win over San Jose. Those are separate games, not evidence about this one.

Image: archival/illustrative photograph of Connor McDavid with Edmonton at Washington on 2 February 2022, not the Kings game. Brian Murphy / All-Pro Reels, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. No image alteration by LiveSportInsights.