FINAL – Kings 1, Flames 2 – Moverare, Byfield, Hiller

The LA Kings were unable to make it wins on back-to-back nights, as they fell by a 2-1 final score on Saturday evening against the Calgary Flames.

After the Kings got off to a fast start, taking momentum from an early power-play chance, defenseman Jacob Moverare opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. After a Calgary breakout pass was thrown up the middle Moverare collected at the center point, shifted the puck onto his forehand and shot through a crowd in front, past Flames netminder Dustin Wolf and in for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Just shy of nine minutes into the second period, Calgary tied the game at one. After Moverare lost control of the puck behind his own net, forward Blake Coleman made the interception and fed forward Matt Coronato in the slot, where he collected the puck and fired off the post and in, past Kings netminder David Rittich on the glove side, to knot the score at 1-1.

Early in the third period, skating on their third power play of the night, the Flames took the lead for the first time, via forward Jonathan Huberdeau. After Rittich made the initial save from a dangerous area on Coronato, Huberdeau gathered the rebound, pulled a spin move onto his forehand and slotted the puck into the net from close range, his 18th goal of the season, for a 2-1 lead.

The Kings came close to equalizing, with forward Adrian Kempe hitting the post and forward Phillip Danault denied by a high-level save from Wolf, and the Kings skated off with a 2-1 defeat.

Hear from Moverare, forward Quinton Byfield and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Jacob Moverare

Quinton Byfield
On his assessment of tonight’s game
We’re playing a lot of divisional games on this road trip and those are big points. Coming out, I think we started really well, first period, I think we started off really good. After that, they kind of found their work boots, put the puck behind us, and started going. Then it’s just a tale of the special teams. They got one, we didn’t.

On if the first period, while good, felt like a missed opportunity
I think we felt like we should have had more there, but their goalie made some big saves, the puck was finding him at some spots too. I mean, we came out hot, we wished we could buried a couple more, but that’s just how it went.

On his assessment of the power play right now
I feel like we’re there at times and at times it’s just super frustrating. So, it’s a bit of both, but they trust us to go out there and be offensive players. In tight games, 1-1 games, we’ve got to be the difference. So that’s on us, and we’ve got to be better on the power play.

On what made it so difficult for both sides to break through offensively
I think both teams, they battle we’ll give it to them, they’ve got players that make plays as well but they all work, so it made us work even harder as well. It’s two teams that are good defensively and just work hard. It was a low-scoring game and you’ve got to check for your chances and as I said, the special teams.

Jim Hiller
On his overall assessment of tonight’s game
Probably couldn’t have started much better for us. First power play was excellent, goalie made some saves, thought we could have been up a couple, easy, after one. Then in the second period, they started forechecking us, we didn’t forecheck, we started trying to skate through them and they just broke it up and forechecked us, then they carried the play a little bit. Third period, that’s an uncharacteristic read by us on the penalty kill, we just got out of our structure for a minute. They made us pay. The third period is fine, first period is really good, second period I didn’t like because we got forechecked and we should be doing that.

On if the first period felt like a missed opportunity considering the way the Kings played
That’s it for sure. I mean, we worked, we had energy, we played our game, but you have to bury your chances. If you don’t, teams usually hang around a little bit. We didn’t give them much for the first two periods at all, I thought they were opportunistic to be honest with you and their goalie played good. I thought we could have played better, thought we deserved to win, we move on.

On the team’s power play
Tonight, the entries gave us problems after the first power play. We didn’t win the faceoffs, if you win the faceoff, it makes a big difference and then we struggled with our entries the second half of the game. If don’t have the entries, you don’t have puck support, you don’t have the puck and then you’re frustrated pretty quickly. That’s what happened.

On if you look to simplify when entries aren’t working, or if it’s just down to execution
We have to execute. We didn’t execute great in the second half of the game, I didn’t think, even in the third we were bobbing a lot of pucks, even at 5-on-5. Just a lack of execution. Guys out there know how to do the job, they’ve done the job before and it’s got to be better.

Notes –
• Defenseman Jacob Moverare (1-0=1) scored his first goal of the season, his fourth point (1-3=4) in his last five outings, dating back to Dec. 29, 2024 vs. Philadelphia. The goal is the blueliner’s first career point in four appearances against the Pacific Division rival Flames.
• With his assist last night in Winnipeg, this is the first time in Moverare’s career that he has recorded points in two consecutive road games (0-1=1; Jan. 10 at WPG), and marks his second two-game point streak this season (0- 2=2; Dec. 29, 2024 – Jan. 1, 2025).
• Per NHL PR, the Kings held their opponents to 10 shots or fewer through the opening two periods of a contests on consecutive days for the first time in franchise history (9 shots at WPG on Jan. 11).

The Kings have a scheduled team off day tomorrow and will return to the ice in Edmonton on Monday, January 13 at 10:30 AM for morning skate at Rogers Place, before that evening’s game against the Edmonton Oilers at 6:30 PM Pacific.