FINAL – Kings 1, Stars 4 – Kempe, Roy, Hiller

The LA Kings dropped their first game in regulation during their five-game homestand, a 4-1 defeat against the Dallas Stars on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Despite a 15-6 shots on goal advantage in favor of the visitors, the Kings took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to an early goal from forward Kevin Fiala. Just 26 seconds into the game, Fiala drove the net through the slot and redirected an incisive pass from defenseman Drew Doughty, past Dallas netminder Scott Wedgewood, for the game-opening goal, Fiala’s eighth in his last ten games.

The Stars struck back, however, midway through the second period with two goals in just 18 seconds.

First, forward Radek Faksa got the visitors on the board with a pinpoint shot from the left-hand circle. Faksa took a feed through the slot from forward Craig Smith and fired over the glove of Kings netminder Cam Talbot and in for his sixth goal of the season. Moments later, the Stars took their first lead of the evening, as forward Jason Robertson drove the net and put home a Joe Pavelski rebound for a goal in his home state of California and the 2-1 advantage.

The Kings nearly completed their fifth successful penalty kill of the night, but Dallas forward Wyatt Johnston scored with just one second remaining to extend his team’s advantage to 3-1. Stationed in front of Talbot’s crease, Johnston buried a rebound from right outside the paint for his 23rd goal of the season and a two-goal lead for the visitors.

Inside four minutes to play, Pavelski picked the empty net from inside his own blueline, with the puck floating in for the 4-1 final score.

Hear from forward Adrian Kempe, defenseman Matt Roy and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Adrian Kempe

Matt Roy
On his thoughts from tonight’s game
I thought we came out really strong in the third period, we had a good couple shifts to start the period. We took that penalty and it kind of killed our momentum. I think it was a little bit back and forth, I think we were a little flat in the first two periods. We’ve got to bounce back.

On what he would have liked to see done differently to build on the early momentum
When that happens, I think you just have to just pretend like it didn’t happen, really. You just have to start the game over and just play like it’s a 0-0 game. You can’t take things easy or anything like that, you just have to pretend nothing happened and work hard.

On if he felt the power-play goal in the third was a backbreaker for the group
Yeah, I mean, I thought our kill was great tonight. When you give one up like that, it kind of stings a little bit, but we just have to put it behind us and keep focusing on our efforts.

On the team struggling to rekindle that offensive flow from the start of the homestand
I think we generate offense when we’re moving our feet, our forwards are pushing the pace and we’re getting bodies to the net. So, if we can do that and get pucks to the net, I think we’ll find more success.

On if he felt tonight was a “measuring stick game” for the group against Dallas
Any time we play a team that’s on top in the standings, it’s a big game, but we believe when we play our game, we can play against anyone and we can beat anybody.

Jim Hiller
On what he sees as the gap between the two teams
That’s a good question. When you look at the two games, you’re right, they beat us handily both times. I thought we were ready for them, they shouldn’t have caught us off guard, because they already gave us a licking, but give them credit. They just came in and outplayed us in every area of the game. I don’t know what to tell you. We’ve got to be better.

On getting the early goal and not being able to build on it and capitalize
If you think about our forecheck and the times we put the puck behind them and went in and forechecked, that was one of very few and that one turned into a goal. It doesn’t always turn into a goal, but you get a hit, you get to play in the o-zone, you get some energy, you wear them out a little bit. That’s what they did to us and we failed to do that to them. So, it’s hard to generate when you’re doing that and then of course we take three tripping penalties, all bad penalties, bad plays by us. Against a good team, you’re not giving yourself much of a chance.

On if the goal against with one second left on the team’s fifth PK was a game-ender
We gave them too many chances, first of all. A power play like that, it’s going to get you eventually, so really what we needed to do was stop it at four, stop the bleeding. We gave them one more chance and that one, I don’t know if it ends the game, but you’re 2-1, you have a chance, you only need one, we haven’t created much all night. Now, you’ve got to get two. Makes it a pretty tough hole.

On the offense drying up a bit after back-to-back 5-1 victories
If you think back on the power plays, first of all, we’ve had one I think in the previous two games, and tonight we go 0-4. That’s generally a place where most teams, us included, can create some offense. When we create offense, where we have the puck and your dangerous, you just feel better and we didn’t do that at all on our power play tonight, so we had nothing to feel good about. It makes it harder to create offense against a good team. Once they got the lead, they didn’t give us much.

On Adrian Kempe’s first game back
He skated, I played him a fair amount. He had the one rush, the shorthanded chance and a really good opportunity to tie the game, just missed, but that was his flash. I didn’t think that he got, not like anybody else, I don’t think anybody was really all that dangerous for us, so he fit into that category.

On Arthur Kaliyev’s game and increased icetime in the third
He was dangerous when he was out there, yeah. The penalty kill sets him back a little bit. He wasn’t feeling 100% going into the game, but as the game went on, he got some icetime and he did a good job.

Notes –
– Kevin Fiala (1-0=1) scored his 21st goal of the season for his 10th point (5-5=10) in his past six games. Fiala has now recorded six goals and four assists over his last eight games against the Stars, dating back to Dec. 20, 2021.
– Drew Doughty (0-1=1) picked up his 26th assist for his 40th point (14-26=40) of the campaign. The assist marks the ninth season in Doughty’s career with at least 40 points, the most such seasons by a defenseman in Kings history. Across all positions, Doughty is now tied with Butch Goring (9x) for the fifth-most 40-point seasons in franchise history.
– Doughty’s assist also marked his 20th all-time helper against the Stars, breaking a tie with Rob Blake (19) for the most assists by a defenseman against Dallas in franchise history. The assist was Doughty’s 27th (7-20=27) career point against Dallas, breaking a tie with Blake (7-19-26) and Ľubomír Višňovský (10-16=26) for the most points against the Stars in franchise history from a defenseman.
– Doughty’s assist marked his 659th (155-504=659) career point, tying Butch Goring (275=384=659) for the eighth-most points in franchise history.
– Doughty skated in the 1,158th game of his career tonight, giving him sole possession of the 44th-most games played by a defenseman in NHL history.

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow and will return to the ice for morning skate on Monday at 10:30 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center, in advance of that evening’s game versus the Islanders.

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