A Look Back At That Third Period – The Play, The Goal, The Kill & The Win

A few additional storylines and quotes from last night’s game, Insiders!

Kings added a loss to one of the best records in the league last night. Entering the game, Dallas was the only team in the Western Conference with single-digit regulation losses. 43 words into this story, they no longer have that achievement. It was a hard-fought 60 minutes, even as things started to shift in Dallas’ favor in the second period. The third period, however, felt clinical by just about all standards. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Kings allowed only six shot attempts in more than 15 minutes played 5-on-5. Of those attempts, just three were shots on goal and just two were high-danger chances. Going the other way, the Kings had 19 attempts, 11 scoring chances and five high-danger chances. The flow of play was firmly in the hands of the hosts, despite Dallas being the NHL’s second-best team in the third period this season. No team has more third-period goals this season than the Stars do and just Boston (+31) has a better differential than the +25 Dallas entered yesterday’s action with. Good stuff…….good stuff.

“Against the team that has really good third periods, that’s their game, I thought we responded really well,” Todd McLellan said this morning. “We had offensive chances, but the risk/reward management by our group was very well done, I guess is the best way to put it. It hasn’t always been that way this year but maybe we’re turning the corner and getting it, so that was good. Penalty kill went 3-for-3 and again, an important one late in the game.”

The way the Kings scored their goal was also a bit of a unique play.

We typically think of the power play as being a setup sequence. Team wins faceoff and sets up or team gains the zone off of a pre-planned entry strategy, assumes control of the puck and sets up. Off we go. As we saw last night, that’s not always the case. The Kings did gain the offensive blue line off of a zone entry, but it wasn’t a gained entry to setup, it was a gained entry to attack. Individual ability and hockey sense from Kevin Fiala and Gabe Vilardi set up the sequence, with Fiala eventually feeding forward Adrian Kempe for the goal.

“There is a plan to attack off the rush,” McLellan detailed. “If you can get four or five goals a season off an entry, and it’s happened to us – Minnesota scored off the rush on the line change – it’s just another way of manufacturing offense. So there is a plan but it’s a tough plan to execute sometimes because guys are positionally pretty sound.”

Jesse Cohen of All The Kings Men broke down the sequence in four screenshots below –

I can't get over this play. 22 starts the rush coming out from behind the net on the LEFT side of the rink. 22 and 9 cross in the neutral zone, 22 dishes the puck to 13. 22 & 9 never stop moving forward. 13 pushes the puck up to 22 quick pass over to 9… goal. pic.twitter.com/mV5dOjK844

— ALL THE KINGS MEN | LA KINGS PODCAST (@KingsMenPodcast) January 4, 2023

Fiala did most of the heavy lifting here, with McLellan quick to credit his speed and skating ability from end-to-end. His timing from around the net to neutral zone certainly escalated the sequence. He then saw two penalty killers move to the outlet man, Vilardi, who did a great job to quickly feed the puck to the space that Fiala was skating into after he didn’t break his stride. Despite a well-placed stick from defenseman Miro Heiskanen in a 2-on-1 scenario, Fiala got the pass across to Kempe first time and number nine did the rest, as he buried his 15th goal of the season. For those counting at home, that’s 30-goal pace.

Typically, these plays are tough to execute because of the stand that teams make at the blueline to attempt to prevent entry with control. With Dallas being an exceptionally good team on the penalty kill – fourth in the NHL – it’s particularly hard. Enter Fiala’s skating ability as a big reason why.

“That’s their stand and Kevin’s speed was a big factor in that, right from when he grabbed the puck from basically behind the net,” McLellan added. “That speed and that speed through the middle, it opened some things up for us. Their stand and their put outs are quite good, they’re top five on the penalty kill. They did things well, we just we made a good play and beat it.”

It hasn’t been all roses for Fiala, including another offensive-zone penalty in the third period – After the game, McLellan admitted that “has to stop” moving forward and Jaret Anderson-Dolan was utilized protecting the 3-2 lead. The Kings want to use such a gifted player in all situations and his creativity and offensive package have fit into this team seamlessly. Overall, the juice has certainly been worth the squeeze, with Fiala’s 39 points through 41 games that also includes a top-ten assist total. Both of his assists last night were an example of his offensive abilities, and the hope is that those moments will continue to outshine the elements that can frustrate at times.

Then there’s the other side of the special teams, the penalty kill, which posted a perfect night for the first time in 10 games. The last time it happened was the win over Montreal back on December 10. Boy does that feel like a long time ago. McLellan has maintained over the last few games that he believes the PK as a whole has been improving. Several wins as of late have included a crucial kill in the third period to either preserve a one-goal lead or force overtime in a tie game. Three times, it’s included a 4-on-3 kill in overtime. The Kings had one of the third-period variety last night and went 3-for-3 in total, which McLellan believes was important for the group as a whole.

“It breaks that streak, if you want to call it that, we’re starting fresh again,” McLellan said today. “To finally come out of a game clean and get rewarded for some of the things that we have been doing is important.”

There have been a lot of reactions to the “you might think I’m insane” quote McLellan gave after the Philadelphia game, the last of the 10 with a PPG against. You see it a lot with longer winning or losing streaks, where a team starts to show signs the opposite way before results follow. On a winning run, sometimes bad habits or play creep in but don’t force a loss right away. Things can start to go right before a win snaps a skid, too. Perhaps that was at play on the penalty kill as well, with clears and blocked shots praised in the room after the victory. Whatever it is, keeping the next skid shorter is certainly a start, especially with three top-ten power play units on the horizon in consecutive games.

Big one tomorrow, Insiders! Kings lost 7-0 against the Bruins here in LA. Will do well to overturn that here tomorrow evening. Game preview to follow!