McDavid's 38th goal and 96th point at 4:08 of the second period on a partial breakaway which saw him split defenders and slot a wrister between Jonathan Quick's pads enabled him to pass Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, who has 95 points.
The Oilers' third straight win came at the expense of a team fighting for its playoff lives. Los Angeles remains at 89 points, tied with Anaheim and St. Louis for the last two spots in the Western Conference. What's more, both the Ducks and Blues have a game in hand on the Kings.
Los Angeles put itself in trouble right away, falling behind 2-0 before it came up with a response. Pontus Aberg collected a loose puck behind the net after a turnover and stuffed it in before Quick could respond for his fourth goal 45 seconds into the game.
McDavid doubled the lead at 15:32 when he was left alone at the left post. Defenseman Adam Larsson got the puck to him, and after McDavid originally fanned on a shot, he got the puck back and slammed it home.
Jake Muzzin put the Kings on the board 28 seconds later with his eighth goal. Tanner Pearson teed him up with a pass into the high slot. Muzzin wired a wrister low to the glove side of goalie Cam Talbot.
Following McDavid's second marker, Jeff Carter drew Los Angeles within a goal at 6:19 of the second period. Pearson forced a turnover near the blue line. The puck rolled to Tobias Rieder, who fed Carter at the right post for what amounted to a tap-in goal.
That was it for the Kings' offense, though, as they produced little pressure in the third period. Talbot only had to make four of his 27 saves to preserve the win.
Quick stopped 24 shots in the defeat.
--Field Level Media
Los Angeles | Edmonton | |
Jeff Carter 2 | Points | Connor McDavid 2 |
Jeff Carter 1 | Goals | Connor McDavid 2 |
Tanner Pearson 2 | Assists | Adam Larsson 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Jonathan Quick .889 | Save Percentage | Cam Talbot .931 |
Jonathan Quick 24 | Saves | Cam Talbot 27 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Los Angeles | 29 | 2 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 4 | 24 |
Edmonton | 27 | 3 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 16 |