FINAL – Kings 0, Oilers 1 – Danault, Moore, Hiller

The LA Kings dropped a hard-fought, 1-0 scoreline in Game 4, as they fell behind by a 3-1 series deficit in the series against Edmonton Oilers.

The Kings played a physical opening period, controlling shots on goal by a 10-5 margin, but neither team was able to find the back of the net in a 0-0 opening frame.

Edmonton finally opened the scoring midway through the second period, as it capitalized on its first power play of the game. The setup was created by forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, with Draisaitl sending the puck to the center point, where defenseman Evan Bouchard one-timed it through traffic, past Kings netminder David Rittich and in for the go-ahead goal and a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes.

Despite a 33-13 advantage in shots on goal throughout the game, including a 13-3 margin in the third period, the Kings were unable to find the back of the net, ultimately losing 1-0 in Game 4 with Bouchard’s tally holding up as the game-winning goal.

Hear from forwards Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, along with Head Coach Jim Hiller, following tonight’s Game 4 defeat.

Phillip Danault

Danault talks about the loss🎤@LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/yR4tM245Qk

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) April 29, 2024

Trevor Moore
On his takeaways from tonight’s result and performance
Yeah, I mean we didn’t get the win, that’s obviously frustrating. We’re frustrated with the result not with the effort, but at this time of the year, I guess that doesn’t mean too much.

On if executing as intended, but still coming up short, makes a night like this more frustrating
Yeah, I guess they’re going to make adjustments and we played a good game. We obviously wanted that one, but what are you going to do, we’ll look at it tomorrow and we’ll get back to work and we need a better effort next game.

On if executing as intended, but still coming up short, makes a night like this more frustrating
We put everything we had into that game, but you know, that’s the playoffs. It is what it is, it’s just about how you can rebound and how you can replicate it. We feel good about that effort and we just have to keep pushing.

On playing “playoff style” hockey and if that was the message coming in
I think that’s been the message for a while, but tonight we were able to play as five. D had good gaps and we were tracking well, we were on the forecheck, so that was playoff-style hockey. It also helps when you don’t have a bunch of penalties and stuff like that. One side is good hockey and we did that for most of the game.

On scoring just one goal from Games 3 and 4 on home ice
I think last game, we weren’t getting it to the net, we weren’t doing all those things, tonight I thought we did. I don’t want to say the puck just didn’t go in but that’s what it felt like. We’ll watch the video, we’ll look at it, but we’ve got to execute.

Jim Hiller
On playing the game he wanted to see, but still coming up empty
We played a good game, there’s no question, it’s frustrating, it’s probably disappointing is a really good word. Guys played hard, we haven’t played this kind of game and this is the kind of game we’ve got to take with us to Edmonton now. Disappointed we’re not 2-2, but we’ve got to go play this game in the next game. That’s the only choice we have. We didn’t get it done, even though we gave it a pretty good crack at getting it done.

On the game he saw throughout the lineup tonight
I don’t think we had a guy tonight that didn’t play well. We didn’t score and we’ll talk about it, they scored one on their power play and we lost the special teams battle. We talked about it this morning, we have to win the special teams battle, whatever that looked like and we didn’t win the special teams battle and we didn’t get the win.

On how the team needs to summon tonight’s game in Edmonton on Wednesday
We’ll take a rest tomorrow and we’ll get back at it. It’s not long until we have to play again and you know the feeling, as a player, the team in the room, the preparation, the effort, it’s right there. To summon that back up again, it’s not like we have to find it, it’s right there, we did it, so it should not be that difficult.

On his assessment of David Rittich’s game tonight
I thought he played well. The disappointing thing for him is no goalie is going to win when we can’t score for him. So, he did his job, there’s no question and we just have to score. We’re not questioning him at all, he did what he had to do.

On the team’s one power play tonight and what was lacking in that sequence
I’d have to get a better look at tonight’s power play, it was just one, so it happens pretty quickly. They’re doing a good job. What happens to a player, what happens to a power play when you’re just not feeling it, when it’s not going your way, you’re probably pressing a little bit and not as relaxed and just letting plays happen. When you do that, you want to simplify it, but again, we’ll take a look at it. Those are good players, players that have produced on the power play, we’re not going to beat it up too much.

The Kings will not practice tomorrow, with two days in between games, and will return to the ice on Tuesday, April 30 at 10 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center, before heading to Edmonton later in the day.