EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) The trade for James Neal is already paying off for the Edmonton Oilers.
Neal had a pair of goals and Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists as the Oilers won their second straight, beating the Los Angeles Kings 6-5 on Saturday night.
Coming over from the Calgary Flames in a trade for Milan Lucic after a season in which the perennial 20-goal scorer record just seven, Neal said he feels refreshed in his new situation with the Oilers.
”I felt like I had a great summer, felt like it was a fresh start, felt I was in a great position,” he said. ”I felt good coming into camp. I was confident in my game and knew that I’d get a chance to play with some good players and that’s all you can ask for.”
Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett was glad to see Neal have some early-season success.
”It’s good to see him get a couple of goals,” Tippett said. ”I like the way he roots around down there on the power play and finds stuff. It was a good game by him.”
Zack Kassian, Joakim Nygard and Darnell Nurse also scored for the Oilers.
Dustin Brown, Trevor Lewis, Anze Kopitar, Michael Amadio and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings.
”You can’t give up six goals and expect to win the game, that’s not going to happen very often,” Kopitar said. ”Obviously scoring five goals, that’s encouraging, but at the same time, we have to clean up on the defensive side of things and make sure that six was just a case of first game of the season.”
UP NEXT
Kings: At Calgary on Tuesday night.
Oilers: At New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
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