Out of Town Scoreboard: Kings jump Oilers with win over Canucks, Flames stay alive with win against Ducks

There’s just over one week left in the regular season and the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, and Vegas Golden Knights are all pushing for the top spot in the Western Conference standings. Let’s look at what happened over the weekend and what’s up next…

The Kings came into Sunday with a game in hand on the Oilers and they capitalized on it with a commanding win in Vancouver over the Canucks. The Canucks opened the scoring a few minutes into the game but the Kings scored four unanswered goals to skate away with an easy 4-1 win. L.A. jumped over the Oilers and into second place in the Pacific Division in the process.

The Winnipeg Jets handled the New Jersey Devils easily with a 6-1 win, so the Flames were pretty much in a must-win situation with the Anaheim Ducks in town on Sunday night. The Ducks, who got pounded by a score of 6-0 in Edmonton the previous night, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period but the Flames battled back and managed a 5-4 win.

The Flames remain two points behind Winnipeg for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and the two teams are set to play each other on Wednesday in Winnipeg.

The Kings now have a one-point lead on the Oilers in the standings and both teams have five games remaining on the schedule, including a head-to-head in Los Angeles on Tuesday. A win by the Kings in that game would put them in a very good position to finish above the Oilers in the standings.

The Golden Knights remain in first place in the Pacific Division with one game in hand on both Edmonton and Los Angeles. That game in hand will be played on Monday night as the Golden Knights play the Wild in Minnesota. The Kings and Golden Knights will also play a head-to-head in Vegas later this week.