FINAL – Kings 2, Blackhawks 1 (OT) – Fiala, Danault, McLellan

The LA Kings made if 3-of-3 on their current homestand with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday evening at Crypto.com Arena.

Forward Phillip Danault led the way with a two-point night, including the only Kings goal during regulation and an assist on the game-winning goal scored by teammate Kevin Fiala with just two seconds remaining in overtime. Jonathan Quick made 31 saves between the pipes to earn his sixth victory of the season.

Chicago opened the scoring with a power-play goal, the only goal of the opening 20 minutes, to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. With the puck below the goal line, forward Jonathan Toews fed forward Taylor Raddysh in the low slot, where he fired past Quick first time for the game’s first goal, Raddysh’s fourth of the season .

The Kings equalized less than two minutes into the second period, after a power play of their own had expired, to tie the game at one. In some ways similar to the Chicago goal, Viktor Arvidsson fed linemate Danault in the left-hand circle, where he one-timed the pass into the back of the net to tie the game at one. Danault has five goals from the last five games versus Chicago, while Trevor Moore netted the secondary assist on the play, his 100th career NHL point.

After a scoreless third period, an electric overtime session followed and the Kings found the winner to reverse the outcome from Chicago, as Fiala buried the game winning goal with just two seconds remaining. Off the rush, Danault worked his way into the heart of the Chicago defense and had his first shot blocked, but he managed to get the puck into Fiala’s wheelhouse, where he wired a slap shot into the gaping net to ice the game just in time.

Hear from Fiala, Danault and Todd McLellan following tonight’s game.

Kevin Fiala
On getting the win tonight over Chicago
Yeah, it was a really tight game from both teams, both goaltenders played unbelievable. That was kind of like a playoff game and it’s nice that we’ve won.

On the Kings tightening things up defensively
For sure, that was our goal over the last couple of weeks. We started our season with a lot of goals for and against and we’re just trying to eliminate those Grade-A chances for the other team. I feel like over the last few games here we’ve done a good job.

On the team’s 5-on-5 control tonight, and improvements overall as of late
Yes, I feel like that too, I feel like we controlled the game. We’re just playing 60 minutes over the last few games and it’s very nice to see. We just have to keep it up.

Phil Danault
On if he knew how much time was left when he fed Fiala
I didn’t know [exactly how much time was left], but I knew when I went on there were 59 seconds left and it was a long shift, it felt like three minutes, two faceoffs there too. I didn’t know, but a great ending.

On playing more to the identity of the team at 5-on-5
Yeah, I think we’re respecting our system way more than we were at the beginning of the year. This is more of Kings hockey right now. We’re playing good defensively, which creates some frustration for the other team and we’re creating chances on our side. That’s Kings hockey right now.

On beating a strong goaltending performance against
Yes, but it’s also a challenge. We were playing better and they were fresh, they only had one game in 4-5 days, so it was a big two points for us, huge. Their goalie was really good today but so was Quickie, so I think it was an outstanding job all around.

Todd McLellan
On his assessment of tonight’s game, specifically the team’s play at 5-on-5
It was a tough night. 5-on-5, I thought we were up and down as the night went on but we stuck with it. They played hard, they blocked a lot of shots again, they packed it in around the net, their goaltender made some good saves. It was a well and hard fought two points for our team. The other side of that question is probably power play and penalty kill and we took three o-zone penalties, and that was in the first half of the game, that took a lot of players out of the rhythm of the game on a night that was hard to play in, because of the way they checked. So, that part of it threw the rhythm off a little bit, but at the end of the night, we put two points in the bank. It probably wasn’t our best game, but sometimes you have to win that way, that’s part of evolving as a team. When you’re in the mud and it’s not smooth, it’s a chip here and dump out there, it might not be the way you want to play, but sometimes that’s what you have to do and find a way to win at the end and we did that.

On if he felt there were similarities between tonight’s game and the game in Chicago
There are a lot of similarities. The way the game evolved, I think after the second period, we’d only given up six or seven shots on goal at even strength, the other 10 came from their power play. We didn’t have to kill as many penalties in Chicago as we did here and obviously with the quality of some of their players on that powerplay they can make you pay, so that was the major difference in the game. The way it rolled out, the overtime the score, a lot of similarities.

On the overtime game-winning goal
They entered the zone and what was good about the entry is that Phil’s a left-handed shot and he could pull the puck back across his body and kind of cross and protect it as it went. He had another lefty with him, so the side of the ice that we came in on was valuable to us. We could go lateral, he made a real good play and still had a lefty over on the outside for the rebound. I think that’s game management, that’s awareness and they also knew the time on the clock, so there was no fooling around. As soon as the puck went out to Kevin he knew he had to shoot it and he made it count. That’s how I saw that play evolve, a lot of it had to do with hands and the side of the ice that we entered on.

On the continued struggles of the power play
We’re still working on things. We’re a little disjointed, the timing and rhythm are off. For me, power plays are about rhythm and we don’t have a lot of rhythm in ours right now. One’s going east, the other is going west, we’re just not sure or predictable of what might happen next. We can fix it and we will.

On Adrian Kempe’s goals drying up as of late, but the chances he created
I think that he had numerous opportunities to score, I think he had two or three pieces of metal tonight and that’s going to happen. When you’re Adrian and you’re counted on, there are some expectations on you to score and finish and when it’s not quite going well for you, you have to be able to put that aside and play all the other parts of the game. I sense a little frustration in him and when he gets frustrated, sometimes the other things don’t go as well either, but I think that’s a process of him learning to become a full-time goalscorer. When it doesn’t go well, there are other things you can really do well, and you know he wasn’t he wasn’t a poor player by any means tonight, but there are some things that he can control, when it comes to frustration.

Notes –
– Phillip Danault (1-1-2) registered his fifth goal of the season and assisted on Fiala’s game-winning goal for his second multi-point game of the season.
– Kevin Fiala scored his fourth career overtime goal and first with the LA Kings. Fiala is two points shy of 300 for his NHL career.
– Trevor Moore tallied his 100th career NHL point with an assist on Danault’s second period goal. Moore became the seventh California-born player in NHL history and 24th active undrafted player to reach the mark.
– Viktor Arvidsson collected his sixth assist of the season, moving him three points shy of his 300th career NHL point.
– Jonathan Quick won for the third straight start, as he stopped 28-of-29 shots for his sixth win of the season.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow morning at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.