Game Day Thread
Game #58/82 -- 02/28/25
>>5:00pm<<
on FanDuel
Los Angeles Kings @ Dallas Stars
American Airlines Center | Dallas, TX
Black History Night
**Game Time 5:00pm**
TV: FanDuel
Radio: ESPN LA app only
Check Out Articles & Video on LA Kings Insider Here
Jordan Spence (video), Adrian Kempe & Jim Hiller 2/26 Post-Game Quotes
Adrian Kempe
On the turnaround in the game between the first 40 minutes and the third period
Yeah, I mean every game isn’t going to be perfect. I think the first and second periods were okay, not more than that. Then the third, I think we just got more pucks to the net, everybody was more hungry, more physical and then we got some chances and scored on them. Good last period, I think. Obviously tough losing a game we definitely should have won with a 4-on-3 in OT as well.
On the defensive start to the game
They really came into play, I think they were hard, they were physical early on. I think we weren’t as physical and hard as they were in the first period. I think we got better as the game went along. I think second period was a little bit better, we started showing up a little bit more, but third period was good. They’re big team, they have big, physical D, hard to get around them, hard to get through the net. They played a solid game tonight.
On the spark it gave him and the group as he moved with Fiala and Byfield
Sometimes it’s good to change things up, maybe when it’s not going the way [you want], get some more momentum. Excited to play with some new guys every now and then. They’re both really skilled, they work really hard, got all the tools, so I just try to do my part, basically the same thing. Try to work as hard as I can, lots of talk out there, making some good plays and got rewarded. Had some good chances over the last couple of games with them so that’s a good thing to have in the back of the pocket, especially in games when you’re down going into the third period, that we can go to lines like that and create some offense.
On the potential of moving with Fiala and Byfield more regularly at this point in the season
I’ve played with Kopi for so long and [we’ve] just had a little bit of a drought for a couple weeks here, so I think it’s good sometimes to change things up. Like I said, you get a little excited sometimes to play with some different guys and I think it’s good for both of us. I’m sure we’ll get back together, just like it happened previous seasons. Last year we had a couple games where we didn’t play together and then they put us back together and then we’re scoring again. Sometimes, I think it’s good to change things up for sure.
Jim Hiller
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
I didn’t think we were great. I thought we had some guys going pretty good early, I thought Jeannot was going good, he showed up, he was physical right away. He jumped out at me, played with a lot of intensity. Give Vancouver credit, played really hard and they don’t give you much anyways. We just weren’t sharp. Even our third period, I didn’t think we were sharp, we still weren’t sharp. We scored, it’s great to see, and we played much better, but I still think we weren’t sharp. Passes on the tape, the power play and all that kind of stuff. Those are examples for me of where we just weren’t crisp.
On going back to the Fiala/Byfield/Kempe line again tonight for a spark
We’ll consider it for sure. I mean, they’ve been pretty effective in relatively small minutes together. Tonight’s, Juice, it was kind of was him and Gavy and a solo show by Juice, it wasn’t necessarily the line, but I thought that Kopi, Laf and Turc were pretty dangerous too. I guess the whole team was more dangerous in the third period, so everybody kind of pushed a little bit more, but yeah, that’s something we’ll have to talk about for sure.
On if not having Doughty available after the way he came back from 4 Nations had a negative impact on the team
Yeah, I think that’s a fair comment. We felt pretty good with him, he did a great job at the tournament, was back, was playing well. It’s like, okay, we got a little momentum here with this team, this lineup, so I think to have him go out, we missed him and probably more so because of the circumstances that he’s missed most of the year.
On the decision to start David Rittich tonight and his performance
I thought he was just okay. Dave played really well on the back-to-back prior to the break and then hadn’t played a long time, right, break, and he’s going to play one of the two this weekend, so we didn’t want him to have to wait three weeks in between starts. We wanted to make sure we got him a start before that.
On the team’s overall play in the three games since the break and it not being, overall, at the level it was before
I don’t disagree with that at all. I would’ve like to seen us really come out and play a full 60 and go and we didn’t, there’s no question. We’ve got probably pretty good results. Probably tonight, we could’ve have got two and probably the other nights, maybe we didn’t deserve two. Maybe we could’ve got one or zero, you know what I mean. The results, you hope that they balance themselves a little bit, so the sting is probably a little bit less because of what we probably deserved, the other games, I’m not so sure. So we’ve got to play better, I agree.
Lineups Courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com
KINGS INJURIES
Drew Doughty (D2D)
=============================
STARS PROBABLE LINEUP
NO Former Kings
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GOALIE COMPARISON
PLAYERS TO WATCH
(last 5 games)
WESTERN CONF STANDINGS
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**Today’s Poll Question Game**
What time will the FIRST GOAL of the game be scored (by either team)?
You can take 3 guesses
use the min:sec of the ___ period format
+/-1:00 = 1 pt, +/- :30 = 2 pts, +/- :15 = 3 pts
Take your best guesses in your post below.
The only prize is the glory of seeing your name in the next GDT if you get it right.
PREVIOUS GAME'S WINNERS
Congratulations to the following posters who trusted jammer & correctly guessed Garland would be credited with the GWG:
SirJW
VegasHockey
rinkrat
motalare
AngelEyes
pray4mojo
KernCoKingFan
jammer06
Cross Traffic
Rogie-Vachon
McSorleyFan - 1st point!
notbob
hornman
Nyssa42
Clif
kingsmen93
dannybuoy1
POLL GAME WIN TOTALS
King of the Mountain - 49 points
Rusty
47 pts
Vegas Hockey
44 pts
Chateau Bow Wow
sonnyboy11
43 pts
Cross Traffic
41 pts
Liz4LA
VCRW
40 pts
Forum Gold
Hockey 53
39 pts
Byron
Sir JW
38 pts
mugs
37 pts
HiFi
JayWells24
KernCoKingsFan
36 pts
Dr. Tran
Drum4Pigs
Nyssa42
35 pts
Guinevere
jammer06
pray4mojo
34 pts
Angel Eyes
DRice
hornman
Rogie-Vachon
33 pts
empire
32 pts
Kingsmen93
31 pts
CIrvine
Shackleford
28 pts
dannybuoy1
randdog
27 pts
Clif
26 pts
Rog or Reg?
24 pts
notbob
23 pts
TooCool
22 pts
RinkRat
19 pts
DRGinLBC
18 pts
mik999999
17 pts
motolare
1 pt
Cannon
McSorleyFan
Sevenhole
ucsdguy1
