Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings (6-4-4) made a big splash on home ice at Crypto.com Arena last night on Nov. 4, winning the team's first game at home early this regular season against the Winnipeg Jets (9-4-0). Not only did the Kings get their first win on home ice last night, but the team also got its first shutout of the regular season, with goalie Darcy Kuemper stopping 23 shots from the Jets in the game.
First home win arrives for Jim Hiller and the Los Angeles Kings vs. the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night
This was a much-needed boost for the Kings, not only in the defensive zone and in the net for the shutout, but also for the special teams on the penalty kill to hold the Jets off the scoreboard. Hiller and the Kings moved back into the top three in the Pacific Division standings in the West with the convincing 3-0 shutout win over the Jets yesterday.
Hiller gave his notes and takeaways from the game after the Kings' convincing 3-0 shutout win over Winnipeg at home yesterday.
This was an important win for Hiller and the Kings to get on the right side of the win column for the first time early this regular season this fall on home ice.
Here's a look at everything Hiller said to the media postgame following the Kings' 3-0 shutout win vs. Winnipeg at home at Crypto Arena on Nov. 4.
Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from the shutout win vs. Winnipeg
"I’ll take any win, you know me. I think we played to our identity, and you have to start there, you can’t come off that. Because then you get in all kinds of trouble. We’re going to start scoring more, I really believe that. We got some really good looks again tonight. Hellebuyck played well, but we’ll take the zero and we’ll take the win."
On Darcy Kuemper getting the shutout vs. Winnipeg
"I thought Hellebuyck played really well but Kuemps gets the shutout in the end, and he made three or four that I thought were really important saves. He did his job, and it’s up and down the lineup tonight. Everyone did their part, and it’s a hard game against a really good team. There’s not a lot of room out there either way, so you might come up relatively empty on the scoresheet, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t play well. It’s just one of those games. They’re kind of a playoff-style team, and it was kind of a playoff-style game."
On the Kings getting a goal on the power play on special teams
"Well, the first one is that we win the special teams battle. When we went up to Winnipeg, I thought it was a similar game; it was an even game, we lose the special teams battle, and we lose the game. Tonight, we win the special teams battle so that was important to win it.
Our power play wasn’t great at 5-on-4, at 5-on-3, we had some really good looks that Hellebuyck saved, but I thought our penalty kill was the best that it’s been tonight. I thought we were more aggressive tonight than we had been. It looked a little bit more like it did last year, so that was probably the highlight of the night for me against an elite power play unit."
On Joel Armia joining one of the top-six forward lines
"I thought he played really well. The big play of the night is the assist he makes, but he's that type of a player. Maybe not as much off the rush, but under the goal line on the forecheck. He's got the ability to make some plays. That was a beauty. So that was one of the two or three big moments in the game just to get us started. He also made another great play to Dumo, coming late on the penalty kill. I really like Joel's game. He was one of those important penalty killers tonight."
On how the penalty kill performed last night vs. Winnipeg
"I'm sure the guys running the penalty kill will spend a lot of time and and they'll see those clips because we said our plan coming in was to get more aggressive like we've been last year. We really felt like we weren't there. So they really had a big emphasis tonight on being more aggressive, and they delivered."