A third-period rally on a shorthanded goal from forward Joel Armia for the second straight game wasn't enough to get the Los Angeles Kings (10-6-6) a comeback victory against the Boston Bruins (13-10-0) on Friday night (Nov. 21) at Crypto.com Arena at home.
Home struggles continue for Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings in an overtime loss to Boston early this weekend at Crypto.com Arena
The Kings started off a short two-game homestand with a pretty sluggish one-goal loss to the Bruins where the offense struggled to muster much of anything on the power play on special teams. Hiller and the Kings have gone 0-for-9 on the power play in the past two games in the back-to-backs, including a missed opportunity on a 5-on-3 in the middle of the game yesterday vs. Boston.
This team is playing well enough to at least push games to overtime. But a combination of not being able to finish games out in overtime or a shootout, along with special teams and scoring issues has cost the Kings valuable points in the standings in the Pacific Division this past week in the West.
Hiller gave his reaction to the media yesterday after the back-to-back losses in overtime and/or a shootout against the Bruins at home.
This was the third straight loss in the past week for the Kings, including three straight one-goal losses on the scoreboard in the past six days for LA and Hiller.
Here's a look at everything Hiller said to the media postgame following the Kings' 2-1 overtime loss to the Bruins at home at Crypto Arena on Nov. 21.
Jim Hiller
On his thoughts on the Kings' special teams on the power play yesterday
"Execution. On the 5-on-3, they had one good block on Juice’s first shot and then Kuzy found him through the seam on the second one, good save. Yeah, just not good enough. Not good enough execution."
On the five-forward power play unit for the Kings
"I think the power play has struggled in general, so I’m not going to single one guy out, but I think the group of five of them clearly are not getting it done as constructed. We’ve talked about it a few times, so that’s something we’re thinking about and it doesn’t look good. It’s cost us games. So, when you get to that point, at some point, you might have to make some changes."
On the versatility Joel Armia has shown for the Kings early this regular season
"We talked about him right from the I think first few days of training camp. He's come in and impressed and he's played up and down and he deserves to play more minutes than he's currently getting. The last couple of games he hasn't played much, but he's played really well. I've had to talk to him about that. We've had some other players that have been here and have done a good job for us. I'm loyal to those guys, but he's slowly scratching and clawing. He's going to take somebody's job. That's just the way it goes."
On Joel Armia's shorthanded goal yesterday vs. Boston
"You would have expected to get one on the power play, right? You’re not trying to expect to get one on the penalty kill, which has been very good lately, we’ve shut teams down. That’s just a really big moment, you know? Army saw the play develop and he jumped up to join Mooresie. Sometimes on a penalty kill, late you’ve got to score, but sometimes you just defer, you go off the ice, or you shoot the puck down. In that moment, they went for it and got a good result."
On the success the penalty kill unit is having while the power play unit struggles
"We went through that for the most part last season, until Kuzy arrived. Then, we really got going when Juice went on the point in the last four or five games of the season and then into the playoffs, so, that’s when the power play was at its best, it was one of the best in the league from the trade deadline on. So you say, well, it doesn’t make sense. It’s clearly not going now, so there probably has to be some changes made."
On how the defensive pairings have played recently
"We wanted to try to hard match them against Pastrnak’s line and I thought they did a really good job as a pair, a little bit like Mikey and Gavy did last year, with Eddie on the right. They did their job."
On the option of moving Brandt Clarke to play point on the first power play unit
"That’s a good question. I think when you look at it, Dewey and Clarkie are the two power-play D that you have here right now. So that poses a bit of a problem."