An accountable & honest Kevin Fiala is determined to move forward after Tuesday’s scratch

Not a person among us that hasn’t missed an alarm, as Kevin Fiala did on Tuesday.

As he laid down for his gameday nap, Fiala was having trouble with his iPhone and tried setting an alarm on his iPad. Problem was, the alarm didn’t go off on time and Fiala missed the bus to the rink for that evening’s game, which meant he missed a subsequent pre-game meeting at the rink. As a result, the Kings made the decision to scratch Fiala that evening against San Jose, a game the Kings ultimately lost, performing poorly in the process.

This came just 48 hours after Fiala didn’t take a shift for the final 24 minutes and change on Saturday, following two minor penalties earlier in the game. Not exactly what you want from your highest-paid forward.

“There’s never good timing for this, but obviously this was not good timing at all,” he said. “Stuff happens, it goes up and down, it’s a long season, but you never want this to happen.”

As such, there were certainly a lot of eyes on number 22 last night against Vegas.

The team did not perform well without him against the Sharks, falling 4-2. For both player and team, a response was needed. Last night, with the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in the building, Fiala certainly delivered.

With Fiala on the ice yesterday 5-on-5, the Kings had seven shots on goal, compared to two against, with no teammate posting better splits. On the power play, following a night when the Kings went 0-for-6, Fiala created a moment of magic early in the third period, providing an insurance goal that allowed a collective sigh of relief. It’s moments like that, those types of plays, that have given him the “gamebreaker” designation that captain Anze Kopitar used after the game.

Plays like that showcase how important Fiala is for the Kings.

“He’s the game breaker and we need him to get on the score sheet, we need him to play all over the ice,” Kopitar said. “For the most part, we want to get him on the scoresheet, want to get him on the power play, get him chances. For him to get a couple points, I’m sure it’s going to be good for him.”

KEV! ON THE POWER PLAY! pic.twitter.com/va8QwYKPnB

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 31, 2024

It went that way, though, because Fiala decided to take it that way.

He could have disagreed with the decision to scratch him. He could have sulked. He could have shown attitude of discontent. We’ve certainly seen that happen around the league at various times. External speculation seems to assume the worst, but there has never been anything to suggest that Fiala – who is a good teammate and deeply cares about his own performance and that of the team – would take it the wrong way.

Not that the record needed to be set straight but Fiala made clear that he “loves it” in Los Angeles. He’s where he wants to be.

Still, it was a tough 48 hours for one of the team’s most dynamic players. To not be in Tuesday’s lineup, watching the team struggle while you’re not able to play was tough.

“I take full responsibility and I have to be better than that,” Fiala said. “I felt terrible and let down my teammates. That’s something to make up for.”

Fiala said he agreed with the decision to not play him on Tuesday in San Jose.

He said there is “no anger” from his conversations with Head Coach Jim Hiller, taking all of the onus onto himself from that situation.

“I’ve got to clean up things for myself,” he added. “I’m hard on myself, to be honest, I agree with what [was done] and looking forward now, just climbing up. I’m just excited to getting uphill, hopefully.”

Hiller, for his part, recognized the situation as one without malicious intent, though the organization still made the decision to hold Fiala accountable. He spoke about Fiala being a good teammate, being someone who cares so much about succeeding, sometimes perhaps to a fault, resulting in penalties. It’s never by negative choice, though and he was very happy to see him get rewarded with the PPG.

Perhaps the best thing about the schedule here is that there was another game 24 hours later. Kopitar said that the team needed that quick turnaround to flush the San Jose game. Perhaps no player needed it more than Fiala, though.

“I was lucky to have a game [the next day] and not in like three or four days,” Fiala said. “I think it was easier to let go and to have a good game, to win a game. Hopefully we can all forget it now.”

Photo by Gary A. Vasquez/NHLI via Getty Images

The hope is that this concludes a difficult, yet small, chapter in Fiala’s season.

Call it what you want, but if this is a springboard for Fiala to play as we all know he’s capable of, consider it perhaps an unintended consequence of the iPad’s alarm functionality.

“Sometimes it happens, you get a kick in the butt and off you go,” he added. “I have to take is as positively as I can, take it like a man to be honest and move on, try to help the team win.”

Just like it was with the benching, Fiala has a clean slate going forward and if last night was any indication, he’s certainly looking to make good on it. The goal was spectacular, as Fiala has the ability to do, but there were other small plays throughout the course of the game that stood out to me, plays that don’t show up in the box score but plays that help push the team along. Two shifts in, I thought Fiala had taken two good shifts. That total continued to build. Something as small as a good shift can help build momentum. Fiala had that early and he was strong throughout the game, a game in which the team needed that from him, against the Pacific Division leaders.

Now, it’s the same level the Kings will need from Fiala day in and day out. He knows that and wants that.

Last season, Fiala had perhaps a slow start but really found his groove in November, on route to a 73-point season, the second highest total of his NHL career. When he was struggling, Fiala upped his community involvement. He flew in his skills coach. He rented individual ice time to work on his game alone. His level of care was clear and he came out of it.

That’s not to say it was easy though. Fiala, like we all are, is a person who cares, a person who wants to succeed. He spoke candidly about that yesterday.

“You always want to be better than last year, everybody wants to be better, especially in our age, but the real answer is it’s tough sometimes, mentally, sometimes you just try to do too much or think too much about goals, whatsoever, because of all those expectations from you guys and from ourselves,” he said. “The simple thing is just to be in the moment and just to take it game by game and sometimes it’s not that easy. I think I struggled a little bit this season with that and hopefully with this, it can help me to just take game by game, stay in the moment and control what I can control.”

With responsibility taken and the performance that Fiala had now behind us, it’s time to move forward. With a fully engaged Kevin Fiala looking to put this situation in the past, the Kings have their gamebreaker back. And that’s very good news.

Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images