EDMONTON, Alberta — The Kings got a better look at the freight train in their rear-view mirror on Wednesday night in a game that had a playoff-like atmosphere.

Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid both scored in regulation and then again in the shootout, lifting the surging Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Wednesday night.

McDavid added an assist to get to 100 points for the fifth time in his career. Cody Ceci also scored and Mikko Koskinen had 38 saves for the Oilers, who have won eight consecutive home games.

The victory was Edmonton’s second in a row and moved the Oilers within a point of the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.

“I think both teams knew what was at stake. It was a tight game, back and forth,” Draisaitl said. “That was a playoff-type of game.”

Kings coach Todd McLellan agreed about the atmosphere and thought his team responded to it.

“They were prepared for it, it’s going to be that way until the end of the season. Our group, the group that we have playing right now, did a real good job tonight,” McLellan said. “We had to scratch and claw to come back. It’s disappointing we didn’t get the point when the second game started, the shootout game. As far as the 60 minutes, finding guys to contribute, I thought we did a real good job.”

Alexander Edler, Quinton Byfield and Carl Grundstrom scored in regulation for the Kings, who have lost three of their last four games.

“Every point is important and we definitely wanted two,” Byfield said. “It’s good that we came away with one, but our minds were on two. They’re right behind us in the standings and we want to make the gap bigger.”

Playing the first game of a three-game Canadian trip, the Kings started the scoring three minutes into the game with a goal on their first shot. Edler floated a shot from the point that ticked a defender and got past Koskinen.

Edmonton tied it less than four minutes later when Ceci skated in and sent a wrist shot glove side past Jonathan Quick.

The Oilers went ahead, 2-1, with two minutes to play in the opening frame. Zach Hyman muscled a backhanded pass through the crease to Draisaitl, who scored his 49th goal of the season, tying Toronto’s Auston Matthews for the league lead.

Five minutes into the second, McDavid notched his league-leading 100th point, sending a pass from behind the net that bounced in off of Alex Iafallo.

Just 47 seconds later, Byfield created his own space and ripped a shot past Koskinen. And just 14 seconds after that, the Kings tied it at 3-3 when Grundstrom stole a puck in a battle in front of the net and scored his eighth.

“The first one was the big one, the ability to come back right away,” McLellan said. “We’ve had that in our DNA, we bump up after goals quite quickly. To get the second one was obviously huge, those two minutes offensively earned us a point tonight.

“We got goals from Kaliyev and Grundstrom, who played on a line without a center. They were a little bit of misfits, but they contributed, and our third-line center got us one. They did a real good job.”

For the most part, the Kings did a good job possessing the puck against the Oilers’ pair of Hart Trophy winners.

“That’s the kind of game we want to play. We have to play that way, no matter who we play against, where, when or how, to have a chance at success,” McLellan said. “When we get away from it, it comes back to bite us. We tried to play to our identity tonight and we probably earned a point because of it.”

Given their injury-ravaged defense corps, McLellan opted for seven defensemen in the lineup.

“Edler has done a lot of work to get himself back into the lineup and he deserved to play,” McLellan said. “We liked the idea of having the four-center hole open, try to potentially get some of the things we wanted in the game.

“We had, and still have, a number of inexperienced D back there, that had to face three centers that are as good as anyone in the league. Edler’s presence, his calmness and his veteran leadership, is something that we needed back there.”

While the second period got frenetic for a time, McLellan was glad his team didn’t let it get the best of them.

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“It’s not something we want to get into, but at least on the bench, it didn’t feel as track meet-ish as it did for the fans,” McLellan said of the back-and-forth pace in the second period. “There were some up-and-down plays going both ways.”

The Oilers had an apparent go-ahead goal called back because of goaltender interference.

“It was good to see that we can stick with it and come out on top at the end,” Draisaitl said. “That is a great sign for us. Who knows, we might see this team sometime down the stretch. It was a big two points for us.”

NOTES

The Kings were missing Blake Lizotte (upper body), Matt Roy (lower body), Dustin Brown (upper body), Andreas Athanasiou (upper body), Drew Doughty (upper body), Mikey Anderson (upper body) and Brendan Lemieux (lower body). … The Oilers were only without Kris Russell, who is in COVID-19 protocols.

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The Kings play at Calgary on Thursday night.