Maybe, just maybe, things are getting back to normal for coach Jim Hiller and his LA Kings.
Adrian Kempe’s scoring prowess has been well documented the past few years. However, as noted in our pregame article yesterday, he hasn’t found a lot of success vs. the Stars. Coming into Thursday night. the 29-year-old winger had just four points (2G, 2A) in 19 career games vs. Dallas — his lowest production against any team he’s faced a minimum of 15 times. Add two more points to those totals, and none more impressive than his game winning goal in overtime, followed by a celebration that nearly broke the internet.
There was actually more to the story too.
A pair of former Stars players, Corey Perry and Cody Ceci, had the Kings up 2-1 after 40 minutes. Then, penalty trouble once again caused a wrinkle in the plan. With Joel Armia in the box for high sticking, Wyatt Johnson tied things up. Despite taking a penalty of his own later in the frame (tripping), Kempe came back in OT to claim victory for the Kings.
Darcy Kuemper once again stood tall in net, as well, stopping 29-of-31 shots (.935 save percentage). That’s two games in a row where he’s looked more like the form he showed last season, en route to a Vezina Trophy nomination.
While they didn’t get the win in regulation, it was still two points earned in Dallas. The last time the Kings left Texas with two points was nearly seven years ago. Willie Desjardins was the coach. Todd McLellan wasn’t even on the seen yet, let alone Hiller.
Thursday was one small step for the coaching staff, one giant leap for the Kings franchise.
[We know NASA is in Houston, just go with it.]
Game highlights vs. St. Louis can be viewed here:
Additional game notes:
— Stars forward (and SoCal native) Jason Robertson was up to his old tricks. Entering play, he had recorded a point in all but two games against Los Angeles (with 16 points in 11 career games against the Kings). Naturally, he scored early in the second period to add to those totals.
— The aforementioned Perry and Ceci goals were the first by each player in a Kings uniform. On the overall game and securing a win, Ceci remarked: “It wasn’t pretty tonight, but we got it done. Our penalty kill came up big late in third period, and then getting the win in overtime.”
— Kevin Fiala on the pace of play: “[Dallas] were buzzing at the start. We just tried to stick with it. [Kuemper] was there, like always, and kept us in the game. Get the lead there, kept going. I think it went better and better as the game went on. A good win.”
— We keep mentioning faceoffs in these postgame recaps, so why stop now? Hiller had to be pleased with what he saw from his team at the faceoff dot. After winning just 45% of the draws through 20 minutes, they came storming back to dominate in periods two and three. By night’s end, LA had won 60% of the faceoffs. Most impressive? Alex Laferriere ended up winning 8-of-9 (889%).
Pregame notes and lineups can be found in the article linked below.
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