EDMONTON — Patrick Maroon's major penalty late in the second period proved to be a costly one for the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers forward hit Kings defenceman Drew Doughty in the head and Los Angeles scored three times on the ensuing power play for a 5-0 victory over the Oilers on Tuesday night.
"When stuff like that happens, your team just comes together, scoring three goals on the power play to really shove it up their butts was awesome," said Doughty, who left the game but was able to return early in the third period.
"I'm feeling all right now. I didn't see it at all. He got me right in the head. I didn't have the puck, that's why I was so shocked by it. But I've known Maroon for a long time, he's just trying to finish a hit. I don't know that he meant to try and hurt me. I forgive him."
Jonathan Quick made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season and Dustin Brown had a pair of goals to lead the Kings.
Andy Andreoff, Marian Gaborik and Adrian Kempe also scored for Los Angeles (24-11-5), which has gone 4-1-2 in its last seven games.
Brown said getting payback for the hit with the lengthy man advantage was a motivator.
"That's part of it, especially when it's probably our best player," Brown said. "But probably more so it's a divisional game and we can finish it in the first five minutes of the third period. And that's what we did.
"The power play hasn't been great for us this year, but you don't need a great power play, just a timely one."
For his part, Maroon said there was no intent to injure on the play.
"I'm glad he came back and finished the game," Maroon said. "Honestly, I'm a big forward, just going in to do my job on the forecheck. My elbow didn't come up, it's just unfortunate that my body hit him in the head.
"I play the game hard. I'm just mad they gave me a match (penalty) and it hurt us."
Cam Talbot stopped 28 shots as Edmonton (17-20-3) lost its fourth in a row, getting outscored 18-6 in that span.
The Kings's scoring spree started 1:36 into the third, as Gaborik used a screen to rifle his eighth goal of the season past Talbot. They got another one four minutes into the third when an Anze Kopitar shot hit a defender on the way towards Talbot and was helped on its way into the net by Brown.
Los Angeles made it 4-0 with its third power-play goal shortly afterwards, as a shot that caromed off the glass had Talbot looking the wrong way, allowing Kempe to score a gift goal.
Brown added another late goal for the Kings.
Los Angeles finally broke the scoreless deadlock with 5:39 remaining in the second period on a two-on-one break as Torrey Mitchell fed Andreoff and he beat Talbot for just his second goal of the season.
Edmonton came close to tying the game up with 40 seconds left in the second, but a Jesse Puljujarvi shot rang off the post with a wide open net to aim at.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid has now gone three games without a point for the first time in his NHL career.
Both teams return to action on Thursday as the Kings head to Calgary to face the Flames and the Oilers play host to the Anaheim Ducks.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press