Head coach Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings lost their first preseason game this fall against the Anaheim Ducks in a 5-3 comeback defeat in the third period on Sep. 27. The Kings held a one-goal lead as late as early in the third period, but the Ducks were able to build some momentum on special teams on the power play to rally with three late goals in clutch time to defeat LA yesterday at Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield, CA.
Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings fall in the third period to the Anaheim Ducks
An empty-netter sealed the win for the Ducks over the Kings yesterday. Here's a look at everything the Kings' head coach Hiller said following LA's loss to the Ducks on Sep. 27.
Hiller on Cody Ceci
"Some of these veteran guys have played on enough different teams. There’s kind of bits and pieces of systems, and they’ve played on different spots. He’s been seamless, really as a veteran guy, Dumoulin too. What you see is what you get with Cody, big, not a lot of room when you’re playing against him. And then he does have the ability. He does have a big slap shot. He has the ability when he gets a slapper away to bury it like he did."
Hiller on Kyle Burroughs playing on the power play unit on the blue line
"Burr will do anything he’s asked. We all know. So it’s nice to reward him not only to be playing a lot and penalty killing, but getting him out on the power play. He runs a power play pretty well. He swivels his hips. He’s got a heavy shot. So yeah, again, no goals on the power play. I guess you had one coming out of the box. I usually count those in my own mind, at least, but, yeah, some good things."
Hiller on Erik Portillo returning from injury to play yesterday
"He was excited to play. He did a lot of rehab. You get frustrated during that process, to get the jersey back on, the Kings jersey back on, and get out there was a good night for him."
Hiller on the Kings' special teams
"We had a lot of looks on the power play. I think, you know, Mrazek played really well. We would take those looks. I think most nights you’d get a couple on the power play. Obviously, we didn’t. They cash in at the end. Not so much off structured looks, just some bounces and some thrown puts the net. So penalty kill was actually fine, and power play probably wasn’t bad either, just didn’t get on the right side of it."
Hiller on preparing for the Utah Mammoth
"Utah does some different things. Their power play in particular is extremely dangerous. That’s going to challenge us. But again, preseason, so it’ll be a good chance for our guys just to get those reps. We’re sneaking up on it, right? We got another three games, I believe, and then it’s showtime. So we’re going to have to get a few things dialed back in."
Hiller on the stretch run of training camp this fall
"We've kind of been able to put everything that we've wanted to get in. We did some things differently tonight, and we liked what they looked like. So, we'll probably have the group, the veteran group, you know, do some of those things one last time, and then we're ready to go. There's a lot that we've talked about this year that's different from last year at this time. Guys kind of have things figured out. We're trying to tweak a few things here and there. You know, our 85% of it is the same and and looks the same and feels the same. So, those guys understand what they're doing."