A momentum spark offensively in the opening frame in the first period for Quinton Byfield and the Los Angeles Kings (19-16-12) to start the game in the Pacific Division yesterday vs. the Anaheim Ducks (23-21-3) wasn't enough for the team and Jim Hiller to get points in the standings in the West on Jan. 16.
A crumbling collapse late in the middle frame yesterday causes a shootout loss for Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings vs. the Ducks
The Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the game's first two periods in the opening and middle frames yesterday on goals from Byfield and veteran winger Joel Armia. Hiller and the Kings looked like the better team on the ice and on the stat sheet yesterday.
Anaheim grabbed momentum on the ice and on the scoreboard yesterday in the middle frame in the second period, scoring two goals in under four minutes. The Ducks got the game to overtime and won in the shootout by a score of 3-2 on the scoreboard vs. the Kings.
Hiller gave his reaction to the media yesterday after the late-collapse of a loss for the Kings in the final two frames in the second and third periods vs. the Ducks on home ice, by a score of 3-2.
The Kings need a change of motivation to get something changed in the standings in the Pacific Division in the West this regular season.
Here's a look at everything Hiller said to the media postgame following the Kings' crumbling 3-2 shootout loss to the Ducks in the Pacific Division on home ice on Friday night (Jan. 16).
Jim Hiller
On if the Kings can feel good enough about getting one point in the standings in the West
"That’s not good enough. No, we’re there. No question. We’ve been there for a while, really."
On how Joel Armia impacted the game for the Kings yesterday
"He sticks out to me. His hockey sense, his strength, you saw the penalty kill, he gets a breakaway. So those are things we’ve missed for sure. I was glad to see, I didn’t expect to play him, I think he played 15 minutes, but he was going pretty good. He’s an important player for us. I think you if you didn’t think about it before, I think it was pretty clear tonight the difference he can make in a lineup."
On how the momentum shifted after the strong first period in the opening frame
"It was when they scored after we scored, right? Which is a cardinal sin in ice hockey. You don’t give them one up late, last minute, first minute, not on the bump up shift after you score, because obviously it gets them back in the game when you have a chance to really step on them and kill their momentum. What did I see there? I mean, we made some mistakes.
I talked about our mistakes were coming down, tonight we made way too many mistakes. We turned the puck over way too often. We had a bad line change, we got caught in the wrong side of it in the neutral zone, their defenseman jump active. So the last seven, eight minutes of the second period, I think that were four or five odd-man rushes, which generally are hard to get against us. So, that was the issue with tonight’s game."
On the Kings not holding leads in the middle frame in the second period in the West
"We have to lock that down. We still have to push, and we’ll get our chances. Somebody said we created a lot of chances in the first half of the game. We’ll still get our chances. But for me, and maybe it’s the lack of scoring up until this point this year, we’re still one foot on the gas, one on the break, and we got ourselves caught in between, like I said, four or five times for odd-man rushes. We just can’t do that. We’re not going to outscore those mistakes, and when you try to just do it that way, and then then you give up too many and now, you’re in a you’re in a seesaw battle."
On the missed opportunities offensively yesterday vs. the Ducks
"We had opportunities, Laf on the two-on-one in overtime. Very similar situation. In hindsight, if he sauces over the stick and Juice one times in the net, we’re talking about what a great pass. But in hindsight, you got an opportunity like that, you probably want to just pull the trigger. And we had other opportunities during the game, Koozie came down the slot a couple of times. There were others that that we didn’t take. We can’t cut it too fine. We have to take the opportunities when we’re presented with them."
On playing the same team in back-to-back games this weekend in the home-and-home series vs. Anaheim
"It's pretty simple for us. We'll watch it. We'll talk about it tomorrow. We'll see the seven or eight minutes of the game that slipped away from us and exactly why we have to clean that up. We just can't do that.
We like large parts about our game, but we didn't deserve it because of those moments. We could have came in here and won the game and I would have still been very disappointed with that stretch of hockey because that's not the type of hockey that's going to allow us to win or give us the best chance to win."