A game that was action-packed in the West for the Los Angeles Kings (14-9-9) and head coach Jim Hiller on the road to start a three-game road trip in Dallas on Monday night (Dec. 15) vs. the Stars (22-7-5) resulted in a 4-1 loss for the good guys.
A shorthanded Los Angeles Kings team for head coach Jim Hiller falls to the Dallas Stars on the road early this week
The Kings were missing multiple players going into Monday night's game in Dallas due to illnesses, including centers Phil Danault and Quinton Byfield for the top-nine forward lines group. Alex Turcotte moved up to play the second line forward position for Hiller and the Kings in Dallas vs. the Stars on the road.
It was good to see the Kings and Andrei Kuzmenko get on a goal on the scoreboard on the power play on special teams in the game's second period on the 5-on-3. Kuzmenko registered the team-leading fourth power play goal on special teams this regular season.
But most storylines for the Kings in this game vs. the Stars became irrelevant when starting goalie Darcy Kuemper suffered an upper-body injury on a collision in the crease in the first period in the opening frame.
The Kings looked good for 40 minutes, and then collapsed late in the final frame in clutch time in the third period on Monday night in Dallas, giving up three goals in a span of under eight minutes.
Hiller gave his thoughts to the media after the Kings' sluggish 4-1 loss to the Stars on the road in Dallas early this week on Monday night.
The Kings and Hiller have lost three games in a row, including two of the past three contests in overtime.
Here's a look at everything Hiller said to the media postgame following the Kings' 4-1 loss to the Stars on the road at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Dec. 15.
Jim Hiller
On the play where Darcy Kuemper was collided with in the crease vs. Dallas late in the first period and how his team responded
"I guess they thought he was in the white paint.
I thought we had the energy for the first 40 minutes. We forechecked, we were physical, and had lots of loose pucks in and around their net. Third period wasn’t as good. We needed somebody to make a big play at one moment. They did. We didn’t. That’s the end of it."
On the Kings scoring a goal on the power play on the 5-on-3
"We had a couple other good looks on the five on four as well. So, you know, we shut them down. I mean, we had to make a couple good saves. They have an excellent power play, that was a story coming into the game. Only took two penalties and did a good job with that. You get one, you want to win the hockey game."
On how Anton Forsberg played in net for the Kings
"He was excellent. The pad save he made in the second period, just holding it out. Tough situation to come into, but you couldn’t ask for anything more from him."
On how the team played vs. Dallas after falling in overtime this past weekend
"For that 40 minutes, I’m not gonna say it’s our best for 40 on the road, but it was up there with any 40 minutes we’ve played on the road, and in third period, we just didn’t have enough. Once they got one, once they got ahead of us, they stood back, they clogged like we did, and makes it really difficult. You got to put it behind them and go to work, and it’s such a grinding game nowadays when you can’t create good rush chances, and we weren’t able to get anything else done."
On how the fourth line played vs. Dallas with Jeff Malott, Corey Perry, and Sammy Helenius
"Very effective. I think if you probably sorted out the time on ice versus time in the o-zone, they were probably by percentage, I would think that they would have led us. They were dangerous. They were good, and had a presence beyond that."