The Kings hope to snap a two-game slide as they take on the Oilers at a recently decorated Staples Center and the brand-new LA Live. Lemme tell you, walking up and seeing the trees around the arena lit up for the holidays was pretty cool. The trees are blazing bright with blue LED lights everywhere, even "dripping" icicles. The tree across the street is made from a gazillion LEDs, and had millions of lighting combos. I stared for a good ten minutes before realizing that I had to head upstairs to watch the game.

Lubomir Visnovsky gets a nice round o' applause from the Staples crowd when the Kings put up a nice tribute to the former All-Star defenseman.

Erik Ersberg is in net tonight, and is just a hair under .900 for his save percentage. They come out playing good defense, and limiting the Oilers chances to get in deep, collapsing on the puck handler any time he crosses the blueline.

The Kings have scored first the last four games, and the Kings up up the shooting early. That is not the case tonight, as Ethan Moreau  turns and shoots past Ersberg to put the Oil on top, 1-0. Frolov tries to feed Moller in front of the net, but is halted by another former King, Mathieu Garon.

Kopitar has a brilliant chance to tie it when he picks up an errant pass and skates in on Garon, shooting, then grabbing his rebound. Bugt the puck is quickly knocked away as play resumes. Peter Harrold gets called for tripping, putting the No. 13 PP unit on the ice against the no. 12 PK unit of the Kings. The Kings kill off the tripping penalty, not allowing any shots. But the Oilers smack one in Andrew Cogliano finds Marc-Antonie Pouiliot in front on the Kings net, and scores his third goal of the season. And the boo-birds are out again in Staples.

Simmonds gets the call for hooking, and the Kings go back with a man down. Patrick O'Sullivan's stick breaks, but he sjhows the presence of mind to grab the puck and throw it clear to give the Kings a little breathing room. Oilers don't score on the PP, but they also don't waste too much time, as Cogliano pops one past Ersberg, and the Oilers are routing the Kings.

The shots are even between the teams, but the team is flat, as L.A. better dig deep to find what they need to make it a game.

Here's something that probably doesn't happen too often at other hockey games. Southern California experiences a 5.5 earthquake. It's based over a hundred miles away from Staples,  but I feel it way up high in the Staples press box. But I really didn't pay much attention to it until the L.A. Times Helene Elliott points it out on her laptop to Jill Painter and I during the first intermission.

First period: Oilers 3, Kings 1

Murray pulls Ersberg, and puts in LaBarbera. Here's hoping the Kings can rally with someone else in net.

They get started as Michal Handzus knocks a loose puck past Garon to put the Kings on the board. Then almost exactly two minutes later, Anze Kopitar smacks a Dustin Brown rebound in to pull the Kings within one. So far, the majority of the play has been in the Oilers zone. The sparce Staples crowd is energized by this, and are back in this game.

Doughty gets nailed against the boards behind Garon, as the Kings go on the power play. And it's Jarret Stoll who wrists one past Garon to tie this game up. And now it's the Oilers who are reeling, after being up three goals in the first. The crowd is really animated now. Even as the organ starts playing the familiar "Let's Go Kings" cry, but the crowd subs in "Oilers Sucks!", prompting Oiler scratches San Gagner and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, sitting to my left in the press box, to wonder what they are saying. Turns out Gagner was scratched after getting a mild concussion in the Oilers game against the Stars.

Dustin Penner gets called for tripping Calder, putting the Kings on the power play again. And they waste little time, as Frolov skates around a pile-up in front of the net, and slides one past Garon to give the Kings thier first lead. The music blaring from the arena speakers also have the Oiler scratches commenting just how loud the music is in L.A.

The Kings get another PP when Ladislav Smid trips Brown, and Staples is rocking. What a difference 10 minutes and four goals does to people's moods. They fail to convert, but you can see the momentum is solidly in the Kings' favor.

The Kings get whistled for too many men on the ice, allowing the Oilers to gain a man-advantage. LaBarbera snaps a Pouliot shot out of the air, helping the Kings kill the penalty.

Drew Doughty gets called with 45 seconds left in the period for charging, spoiling an otherwise perfect period for L.A. They follow a crappy period up with a phenomenal one, scoring four unanswered goals and getting the crowd back into the game. L.A. did better in the faceoff circle, but still trail the Oil in shots and hits.

Second period: Kings 4, Oilers 3

As they have the past two games, the Kings enter the third leading by a goal. Can they finally finish one out? The Doughty penalty is killed off rather easily to start the third, as the pep is out of the steps of both teams. However, much of the first 4 minutes of the third are in the L.A. zone. The Kings have yet to register a shot, while Edmonton has tallied seven.

Smid gets leveled by Stoll, and he falls hard. The hit was nothing special, but he fell awkward, he he lay on the ice for a minute to regain himself. At least, there was no slevve-tugging match over the hit. It was clean.

The Oilers finally tie it up, as they continue to pepper LaBarbera as Penner redirects a wobbly Horcoff shot out of mid-air. There's not much you can do about that, as Edmonton continues to dominate the third. They now have 11 shots to the Kings zero. (!)

Visnovsky gets yanked for tripping, giving L.A. a man advantage. The Kings are finally starting toi muster some shots, but the puck seems to be bouncing oddly. L.A. is buzzing now, as they have a sustained stay in the Oilers' zone. They keep the pressure on late in the third, but just can't seem to get anything to fall. The Kings end up with seven shots, but nothing real serious, as we head to OVERTIME!

Third period: Kings 4, Oilers 4

The Kings continue their late surge of energy in the overtime. Kopitar and Brown almost connect, as do Frolov and O'Sullivan.  Handzus gets a good forecheck in and garners a shot. Brown hovers around Garon and starts doing what he does best, causing havoc. Both teams look gassed as we head into a SHOOTOUT!

OVERTIME: Kings 4, Oilers 4

Frolov misses
Schremp misses, albiet barely
Kopitar misses
Pouiliot scores on a backhand
O'Sullivan scores
Hemsky scores on a backhand to win

Another heartbreaker of a game leaves the Staples Center crowd disgruntled as they file out. At least they can marvel at the Christmas Tree across the street.

Final: Oilers 5, Kings 4