Oilers win sixth straight to open six-game road trip

Los Angeles Kings Trevor Lewis upends Edmonton Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Los Angeles, California Nov. 3, 2011.

Khabibulin records second shutout of season, Edmonton remains first in NHL’s Northwest Division

LOS ANGELES - The last time the Edmonton Oilers strung together six wins, defenceman Tom Gilbert was still months away from his first season with the University of Wisconsin, goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was with the Tampa Lightning Lightning and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was just nine years old.

“I don’t even remember that. That’s how long ago it was,” said captain Shawn Horcoff who was in his second NHL season when the Oilers put together a nine-game unbeaten run that started on March 14, 2002 and continued right through April 2. They won six straight to start it off, tied the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh game, then won two more.

“I was still in juniors,” said Gilbert after this edition of the Oilers defeated the Kings 3-0 to push their current streak to six games. “Hopefully, we can keep this one going.”

Thursday’s contest at the Staples Center was the opening instalment of a six-game road trip that will take the 8-2-2 Oilers to Phoenix to face the Coyotes on Saturday night.

“We’ve been playing well at home, but it’s good to build confidence on the road. This is going to be a tough trip,” Gilbert said. “To start out with a win is definitely going to give us a lot of confidence.”

Khabibulin turned away 19 shots for his 45th career shutout, his second of this season, while the Oilers generated 27 shots.

They couldn’t get anything past Jonathan Quick in the first 20 minutes, but scored twice in the second. Defenceman Corey Potter scored an insurance marker in the third.

“We got some big kills when we needed them. The power play wasn’t very good, probably the worst it’s been all year, but we scored when we needed to,” said Horcoff. “From the second period on, I thought we controlled the game.”

At 11:26 of the second, Ryan Smyth, in his first game back in Los Angeles since his off-season trade request, banked a behind-the-net pass in off the stick of defenceman Alec Martinez. Eight minutes later, Lennart Petrell tucked his first NHL goal under Quick, who was furious that the goal wasn’t waved off because Anton Lander was planted on his left hip.

“We’ve really been playing well and we want to keep that going, especially on the road,” said Taylor Hall. “We really want to keep this good feeling going.”

“If you’re going to do anything in this league, you need win streaks,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney. “You have to put games together that eat up chunks of the season for you and that get you points. We know we need to do that. We know we have to be capable of that, at least on the road.”

The Washington Capitals are a league best 8-2 in their last 10 games, the Chicago Blackhawks are 7-1-2, and the Oilers have moved into third at 7-2-1.

OIL DROPS: Smyth’s goal was the first Quick has allowed on home ice this season. He is now 5-1-2 against the Oilers ... Ethan Moreau, moved out of the Oilers lineup when he was still captain of the team, cross-checked defenceman Colten Teubert in the third, igniting a scuffle that resulted in roughing penalties for the Kings’ Kyle Clifford and Edmonton’s Ben Eager.