The Los Angeles Kings hosted the Utah Hockey Club for the first time, in their third afternoon game of the season. It was a pretty even game from both sides and ultimately the Kings were able to capitalize on a couple more of their chances to pull out a 3-2 win for their second tough win in a row. The Kings improved to 5-2-2 on the season and sit atop the Pacific Division with 12 points through nine games played.
“It just shows our depth and leadership in those dying moments in a game, having the patience and the calmness just to make plays and get the puck out of the zone […] we gotta do that if we want to get wins, it’s a hard league to win in,” said defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Defense and structure throughout all three zones is what won this game for the Kings. They checked hard, keeping Utah to the outside for most of the night and didn’t allow their high-end players like Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, or Nick Schmaltz much space to create scoring chances.
Getting bodies to the front of the net, crashing the net, causing havoc in the slot, and activating their defensemen to find shooting lanes from the point is how the Kings were able to create offense and come out of this game with the two points.
“You gotta shoot to score […] it’s a product of the forwards getting to the net and the D obviously finding lanes and getting it there,” said head coach Jim Hiller.
Kings D-Men Came to Play
All six Kings defensemen were great tonight. Caleb Jones slotted in for Kyle Burroughs and all three pairs were solid in their own end. There weren’t any major defensive breakdowns that we saw a lot of in past games that have cost this team.
Something that has been a common theme with the Kings so far this season has been the offensive contribution their defensemen have made. Seven of the goals the Kings have scored this season have come from their defensemen and three of them were from today. Brandt Clarke opened the scoring on the power play with a seeing-eye shot from the point. Edmundson crashed the net hard and potted a rebound for his first goal as a King and blasted one from the point for his second of the game. It was a combination of being in the right spots in the offensive zone and getting pucks to the net.
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“DJ’s preaching shots low to high, get it to the net, create some traffic […] we’re just emphasizing, if we get it, let’s get it to the net and let’s create some danger,” said Clarke.
Hiller Holding Players Accountable
It’s getting repetitive, but the Kings take too many penalties. They are the third-most-penalized team in the NHL and out of those three teams they have the worst penalty kill percentage. The Kings were shorthanded three times against Utah but were able to kill off all three. It’s the same song every game, except this time, it wasn’t so much about how many penalties they took, but who took them and where they were taken. This changed the dynamic of the lines in the third period.
Continuing on from the last game, Kevin Fiala has had trouble staying out of the box. He is tied for first with Brandt Clarke for the most penalties in minutes on the Kings and he has taken three in the last two games. Taking three penalties in two games isn’t the best way to get into the coach’s good books.
What makes this situation worse for Fiala is when he has taken these penalties and where he has taken them. All three of his penalties have been in the offensive zone, and that’s the last place you want to take penalties on the ice because it means they are undisciplined penalties. If you aren’t defending and your team is possessing the puck, there is no reason you should be getting caught up in that many calls. Last game against the San Jose Sharks, he took an offensive-zone penalty with 1:05 left to go in regulation, and the Sharks scored seconds later to make it a one-goal game. Today, his two offensive-zone penalties ultimately led to Hiller pasting him to the bench for the entire third period, which caused the lines to juggle. It seems as if Fiala is getting caught in these situations too often and Hiller needed to send a message and hold him accountable.
“We’re taking too many penalties. That’s clear, so you can’t take the many penalties, and when you show up more than once or twice or three times, then the coach has to do something,” said Hiller.
At the end of the day, the Kings won their second game in a row and they will look to make it three in a row on Tuesday as they head north to SAP Center to take on the Sharks for the second time in less than a week.
