After a slow first 40 minutes last night in the game's first two frames, the Los Angeles Kings (11-6-6) turned it up in the third period in the final frame to defeat the Ottawa Senators (11-7-4) on home ice on Monday night (Nov. 24). The Kings scored two goals in the game's third period to gather two points in the standings in the West and sweep the regular season series this fall against the Senators.
The third period sees more action from Brandt Clarke and the Los Angeles Kings in a key win over the Ottawa Senators early this week on home ice
Last night was the second time in as many weeks that head coach Jim Hiller and the Kings defeated the Senators in a tight one-goal game on the scoreboard.
The spark in the offensive zone for Hiller and the Kings finally lit up in the game's third period when forward Warren Foegele broke the tie on the scoreboard with a goal in front of the net over five minutes into the final frame yesterday.
Defenseman Brandt Clarke got the Kings over the hump with a clutch game-winning goal in the dying seconds of a power play chance on special teams on the 5-on-4 unit. Clarke scored his second-game winning goal of this month in the West for the Kings, and his third game-winning or game-tying goal in the final frame in the third period in clutch time.
Foegele and Clarke gave their thoughts to the media after the hard-fought 2-1 close win in the third period yesterday against the Senators on Monday.
The Kings have jumped back into the top three teams in the playoff picture position in the standings in the Pacific Division in the West after defeating the Senators yesterday in the third period by one goal.
Here's a look at everything Foegele and Clarke said to the media postgame following the Kings close 2-1 win on home ice over the Senators at Crypto Arena on Nov. 24.
Warren Foegele
On the Kings fighting through adversity to get the close one-goal win vs. Ottawa
"It’s just sticking to our identity, check for our chances, stay above. It was a resilient effort from our group, a bunch of penalties, able to kill those, and then the power play gets us a goal. Usually, when you win the special-teams battle, you’ve got a higher chance to win game. Happy for our power play there at the end, Clarkie, to help us get the win there."
On the goal he scored last night vs. Ottawa in the third period to get the Kings on the board
"It was two incredible passes, one by Eddy, passing it to Army weak side, a lot of poise by him to make that play. I think we can kind of worked on it last practice, try to maybe make more plays instead of the chip and chase always, but a great play by Eddy and then Army made a fabulous pass to me. My only job was just to beat my guy and I thought I could do that. Fortunate that it went in."
On the Kings staying with the game plan and the process while the offense is struggling to score goals
"It’s super difficult. It’d be a lie to say that a couple of us aren’t fighting confidence when the puck isn’t going in, but we’ve got an experienced group in here that kind of keeps everyone in check. At the end of the day, we want to win games and the best way to win games, for us, is the way we play and don’t give the other team chances. The more we do that, we give ourselves better chance to win, and you just have to stick with the process and keep grinding to win."
On how Darcy Kuemper played in net vs. Ottawa yesterday for the Kings and if he gets enough credit for the team
"He gives us so much confidence to our group when we do make a mistake, we know that he’s a brick wall back there and he’s going to cover up for us. He’s been tremendous and he’s a great teammate as well."
"I know within the group he is. I don't know about outside, but we know with the way we play and having him in our net gives us a really good chance to win games, and we saw that last year. He's was a Vezina nominee, and now this year our goal is for the LA Kings. But he's pushing for that Canadian spot and the way he's playing, he's definitely opening some eyes."
Brandt Clarke
On how the Kings fought for a close win vs. Ottawa yesterday in the third period late
"It's not always the most exciting action back and forth. Sometimes, just grind in the neutral zone, break out, just find a way to beat their system, and they had to find a way to beat our system. We had to compete 60 minutes, and when we do that, we're hard to beat. We're not jumping off the score sheet, but we'll take the wins as they come."
On the celebration after scoring the game-winner on the power play on special teams for the Kings
"Just the moment, I think. The building got loud for it, you know, six minutes left. I think I was just excited, and that's kind of what that was."
On the Kings converting on the power play late yesterday for the game-winning goal
"It's huge. We got to be a shooting unit. We got to get pucks to the net, and Perrs switched on to our unit, and he's one of the best guys to ever play the game. That's huge, and especially with him there now. We really got to get to the net, and that's what my mentality was with them about to come out of the box, and lucky it hit one of their guys because we had guys at the net that caused traffic, and just fortunate to win."
On the goal he scored on the power play on special teams in the third period yesterday
"That's what we just discussed, they might trail behind me, try to intercept the drop pass that we were trying to run, and that's what Drew was trying to do there and I saw their D and other forward back up. So I had the ability to get the blue line. Perrs joined on the right side, and it wasn't the set play we had, but sometimes you just got to make a hockey play, and that's what I was doing there."
On the impact Darcy Kuemper had on the Kings early this regular season
"He's been incredible. We have so much confidence when he's in the net. He bails us out so much. There's some situations where it almost seems like it's a bigger breakdown than than it looks like, but just because he's so calm and makes the routine save like doesn't even get brought up. We're so grateful to have him, he's our backbone and he killed it tonight."