Fial-ing Right At Home – Film, Analysis & Quotes from a successful Minnesota return

Whether it was extra motivation, the circumstances of the evening, or perhaps just a good plan coming together as intended, Kevin Fiala made the most of his homecoming yesterday in Minnesota. With a goal and two assists in the 7-6 victory, Fiala contributed offensively, in an arena he knows all too well. Fiala had 43 points from 41 games played at Xcel Energy Center last season, with his team winning 31 of those 41 games.

He made it 32 of his last 42 in St. Paul yesterday evening, as the Kings eked out a high-scoring victory over Minnesota.

After Fiala’s first preseason game in a Kings jersey, Todd McLellan noted that he “doesn’t need many opportunities” in order to create offense. At 5-on-5 last night, that was certainly true, as Fiala had just one shot attempt, a scoring chance at that, but he was able to pick up an assist with a dish to Adrian Kempe for the game-opening goal.

On this play, we saw some of what we thought we might from this top line. With a ton of speed on the wings, watch how Fiala goes outside of Mikey Anderson with speed to make himself appear to be the dangerous man on the ice down the wing. In the screenshot below, both defensemen, as well as the primary backchecker and secondary backchecker, have their heads towards Fiala with his steam entering the zone. As he’s about to make the pass, no one has accounted for Adrian Kempe in a more dangerous area. Fiala’s 30+ goals last season were discussed heavily, but he was also a man of 50+ assists and his feed here through four defenders shows exactly why. Bing, bang, boom, 1-0.

On the power play, however, Fiala was firing all night long, as was the entirety of the first unit. Fiala used words like “fast” and “quick” to describe how his unit was operating. In every aspect of their game, it’s hard not to agree.

“We saw that for sure, the PP is supposed to score goals and obviously it doesn’t always work, but tonight we moved the puck quickly and everything was fast,” he said. “We shot it, we retrieved it, we passed it, everything was quick and I think that’s why we were successful.”

In 6:28 of power-play time, Fiala recorded a game-high seven shot attempts. No other Kings player had more than three. Four of Fiala’s chances were classified as scoring chances, with two of those in the high-danger category. Per Natural Stat Trick, Fiala had an xG of 0.50 on the power play alone, and while that stat is misleading, it’s an aggregation of the individual chances that he had last night when playing 5-on-4. That total for Fiala, just factoring in the power play, was higher than all but one individual when factoring in all strengths. Not too shabby.

Fiala’s first power-play contribution showcased just about everything you want to see on a power-play sequence, and all three aspects from his quote above. His first seam pass nearly hit Doughty for a one-timer goal seconds before Doughty actually fired home. His shot on goal from the right-hand circle was a good place for a shot, and his look was uncontested. He then got his own rebound with an active stick in the corner, as he poked the puck free and fed it back to Kopitar at the top of the zone to reset the sequence. One pass later and Doughty buried the goal. The retrieval was a standout play for me, because it drew two of the four penalty killers away from the house, and again, all eyes were on Fiala. Two passes later, it’s a goal.

Now, Fiala’s goal. I mean first of all, what a freakin’ shot. But looking at the sequence, it’s a perfect example of what Fiala brings to this team offensively and an example of how he’s worked into the power play, along with the new concepts the Kings want to implement. While not even necessarily the intended pass from Kopitar, the bumper position worked to perfection, with Kempe reacting quickly to feed Fiala in his wheelhouse. Kempe and Fiala have been interchangeable in that high slot position, with an added emphasis on utilizing that role more frequently for quick-release shots and creating space for those on the outside. At the end of it though, it’s not difficult to see how a player with that type of shot can be a gamechanger, as Fiala was last night.

The game in Minnesota almost felt like a poetic breakout party for Fiala and the top line here in the early goings of the season. Earlier in the day, Fiala himself said he wasn’t happy with the first two games that line played this season, but he felt like the game against Minnesota was going to be better. Todd McLellan shared similar thoughts, that sometimes it takes a bit of time to work a player in, even a high-level one.

“On the ice, it always takes a little while for new players to adapt to a new system, new teammates, new language from the coaching staff, but you can that the talent is there,” McLellan said, before yesterday’s game. “He’s got a real good skill level and I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Kevin yet and that will come out later on. We’re happy to have him, he’s a really good addition.”

Perhaps all it took were some familiar surroundings, with each of Fiala, Kopitar and Kempe on the ice for four goals for, two apiece at even strength and on the power play.

“Much better tonight,” Fiala said after the game. “Sometimes, on the road, you don’t think about it, you just play the game. When you’re not at home, sometimes you’re more of the underdog and maybe that was what helped today was that we just played the game, we didn’t think it. A good step, but we have to keep going.”

Perhaps this was just what everyone needed to get the ball rolling. It had been 16 years since the Kings conceded six goals and still won a game, so I don’t know how often you can count on it here this season. But the offensive output was staggering and the Kings got the big contributions from their big guns. Seven Kings players collected multiple points, with the top line included in that group with nine points amongst the three of them. With four more games on the road, and a proof of concept now known, it’s certainly not a bad sign of things hopefully to come for that group.