A game that had an intense atmosphere and postseason-like competitiveness on the ice in the Pacific Division yesterday this weekend for the Los Angeles Kings (19-15-10) and Edmonton Oilers (22-16-7) ended up being a win in a shootout by a score of 4-3 for head coach Jim Hiller's team in the West.
A win over Edmonton gives the Los Angeles Kings and Jim Hiller more life in the Pacific Division in the West this regular season coming out of the weekend on Saturday
The Kings took the lead on the scoreboard for the first time in the final frame in the third period on a nice tip-in goal in front of the net from forward Alex Laferriere in clutch time. Edmonton pushed back with a goal on special teams on the 5-on-3 man advantage in the final frame in the third period.
But Hiller and the Kings came through behind multiple nice stops from goalie Anton Forsberg to beat the Oilers in a shootout by a score of 4-3 on the road in Edmonton on Saturday (Jan. 10).
Hiller gave his takeaways to the media yesterday after the clutch and important shootout win over the Oilers on the road at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday night this weekend.
Since it was a playoff atmosphere yesterday in Edmonton on the road vs. the Oilers, it was huge for Hiller and the Kings to get two valuable points in the standings in the West in the Pacific Division with the 4-3 big shootout win in Canada on Saturday.
Here's a look at everything Hiller said to the media postgame following the Kings' big 4-3 shootout win over the Oilers in Edmonton on Jan. 10 in the back end of back-to-back games.
Jim Hiller
On how Anton Forsberg played yesterday for the Kings
"He’s been playing well. Particularly strong in the shootouts. We’ve seen that from him this year. But I thought he had a strong game start to finish."
On how strong Forsberg has been in the back end of back-to-back games for the Kings
"I've talked about it. I think the back-to-backs test the character of your team. Those are back-to-backs. We got in really late last night. You can build in an excuse a little bit. But we don't do that. We haven't done that. I'm just really proud of that effort."
On how the Kings prepared and game-planned for the back-to-back games this weekend
"The back-to-backs, you want to test your character of your team, those are back-to-backs. And a lot of time, we got in really late last night, you can kind of build in an excuse a little bit, but we don’t do that. We haven’t done that, and I’m just really proud of the effort. It was a hard fought game last night despite the score, get in late, first time against Edmonton, and we came out right from the drop of the puck ready to play."
On how the team played yesterday vs. Edmonton
"You’re going to bend against Edmonton at different times, especially when they go on the power play. But I thought, zero through 60, we were pretty consistent the whole way through. Our penalty killers, despite the five-on-three goal, I thought our penalty killers at five-on-four, that’s the best we’ve killed Edmonton, and so that was a real positive, really important part of the game.
I also thought that Sam Helenius’ line, you can talk about Lee scoring the goal, but Sam Helenius’ line, I thought they gave us real minutes. They played in the O-zone, they forechecked, Sam got caught a couple times against Draisaitl, playing D-zone for a good 30 seconds, and did a great job. So I thought that line was really important for us tonight."
On Corey Perry's impact on the game for the Kings
"He’s going through a tough time, and this is a hockey player just through and through. He comes, he shows up here, he wants to play hockey, he wants to help his team in difficult circumstances, and then he goes out and scores a goal. He plays 15-16 minutes, a lot of times against McDavid’s line, it’s pretty incredible. I just have so much respect for him and I always have, I just have a lot of respect for him."
On the goal Alex Laferriere scored vs. Edmonton yesterday
"Really nice play. Faceoff, first of all you’ve got to win the faceoff. Clarke comes down the wall, throws it in. It’s a really good tip. It’s a difficult tip. He was a guy who played a heck of a game tonight, too. A winger who’s converted to center, and then he’s winning big faceoffs at the end against some of the top face off guys. There’s so many elements that go into a game like this, and just up and down the lineup we got some really, really big efforts."
On how the team responded yesterday after the loss to Winnipeg in the front end of back-to-backs on Friday
"Last night was a funny game. In the end, we have 80 shot attempts, we got all kinds of chances, they get two off the skates, one kind of a funny one. So it was demoralizing the score, but we played through it, and I thought what was important is to finish that game hard and well, we did in the third period. I thought that carried over into tonight too. It’s just a really good win for us."