Manor Just The Facts: Kings Dominate Vegas in Win on Home Ice; Push to Top 10 of NHL Standings

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They did what they had to do.

Coming off a beat down in Vegas last week, the Kings needed to respond if they want to be considered a Pacific Division playoff team. Add with the embarrassment of Tuesday’s loss in San Jose, coach Jim Hiller needed to get that stink off of his team as quickly as possible.

Wednesday, that same LA squad ran the score up to a 4-0 lead midway through the game, proof enough that the Kings weren’t messing around any longer — at least not on this night.

“I’ll take a few more of those to feel good,” captain Anze Kopitar quipped after LA finished things off by a score of 6-3.

Even knowing that one single game doesn’t fix everything, it’s still a good sign — in a season that has been as confusing as it has been frustrating for fans and players alike — to know that on any given night, all the pieces can fit together perfectly.

“We felt like we were playing again,” Adrian Kempe added. “Everything kind of clicked.”

The Kings may not be as good as they looked last night, yet they’re not as bad as they appeared to be on Tuesday either. While the truth likely sits somewhere in the middle of those polar opposites, they’re more than holding their own during a stretch where Hiller and his staff continue to sort through all of their ingredients.

Sure, some nights that stew tastes awful. Last night wasn’t one of those evenings, though.

“We had to have a response,” Hiller said. “I also thought we moved the puck pretty well, we scored some nice goals. … We were able to really move the puck, really make some nice passing plays, which we’ve struggled [with] a little bit so far, frankly, this year. So, it was good to see some guys moving the puck like that.”

Alex Laferriere scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season. Defenseman Brandt Clarke had three assists, while Kopitar and Kempe each had a goal. Warren Foegele scored against Vegas last week, he did it again on Wednesday night. Joel Edmundson now has a two-game goal scoring streak, after potting his third goal in two games.

The Fiala File: One of the key storylines coming out of Saturday’s game vs. Utah was Hiller benching Kevin Fiala in the third period. Just when it seemed to simmer down and everybody was ready to move on, he was healthy scratched on Tuesday for violating a team policy. To his credit, Fiala stood in the pocket on Wednesday night and answered every question asked, as well as offered a sincere apology to his teammates.

Stats and Sample Size: It’s early, but Clarke generating offense at a point-per-game pace is pretty interesting. He’s also just 21 years old, so the team is taking a cautious approach, as Hiller discusses below. Big picture, the team is 17-3-1 at home since Hiller took over behind the bench last season (that’s an .857 points percentage). Digging even further on the stats front, LA now has the 10th best points percentage in the league this season:

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Thomas Time: Akil Thomas played in his second straight game and continued to earn the praise of Hiller, as seen in the video below.



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