On January 21st, Los Angeles Kings Jim Hiller was asked about Kevin Fiala as he had struggled for most of the season. The Kings were looking for offense and Fiala is the player that should be able to contribute but to that point of the season had only 15 goals.
Hiller's message was essentially patience as the advanced metrics showed that he should have more and eventually those two numbers come in alignment. The Kings' coach was right as Fiala has been incredible as of late and now has four goals in just the past two games and five in the past five.
What is more important than the number of goals but where in the game Kevin Fiala is getting these goals. In the game against the Hurricanes, Fiala's second goal was in the third period after Carolina cut the lead to one goal.
On Wednesday night, Fiala had both goals in the third period as he would give the Kings two-goal leads after the Canadiens cut it to one. The second goal of the night came less than a minute after Montreal scored and really helped keep the momentum in Los Angeles' favor.
He's fialin' it pic.twitter.com/Wb3r84fegT
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 6, 2025
Los Angeles Kings need Kevin Fiala to be that second scoring option
For most of the season, the Los Angeles Kings have been desperately looking for a second scoring option after Adrian Kempe. Kevin Fiala certainly has the skill and the shot to be that player but he struggled in the first part of the season.
After today's game, Jim Hiller had this to say about Kevin Fiala's performance:
"There was some different things going o that he was working through, that he and I were working through but it’s been for some time. Somebody asked me, I think he’s going to have a really good second half."
Hopefully Jim Hiller is right once again because the Kings' offense needs this type of production from Kevin Fiala.