There’s been no place like home for the Kings since Jim Hiller took the helm, and now they’ll host their final three games before the Four Nations Face-Off break, starting with a throwdown against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
The Kings’ .811 points percentage on home ice since Hiller’s in-season promotion one year ago is the best in the league, some 55 ticks above that of the next best home team, the Carolina Hurricanes, over that same span.
After achieving two undesired feats –– they lost both ends of a back-to-back set in regulation and dropped four straight decisions, both for the first time in 2024-25 –– their latest bounceback in this springy season saw them double their goal total for their five-game road trip from four to eight in a 4-2 win over those same Hurricanes on Saturday.
That relative outburst was accounted for entirely by middle-six forwards that the Kings desperately needed to microwave up some offense. Kevin Fiala had two goals off what Hiller described as “two incredible solo efforts,” both of which were assisted by Quinton Byfield, while Phillip Danault scored one goal and set up another by Trevor Moore. After a road trip in which they’d collected one of a possible eight points and scored just a goal per game to that point, Fiala offered that the Kings were in “desperation mode.”
“It was just emotional on the bench. They were happy, we were happy. We were so pumped, and I think it got us a lot of energy,” Fiala told reporters. “All of our goals, we were so pumped up, and we got a boost, for sure, after every goal.”
Perhaps the next King to get rolling will be captain Anže Kopitar, who was joined in Los Angeles this week by another Slovenian luminary, new Laker Luka Doncic. In the Kings’ final game of 2024, Kopitar had his second two-goal game in 10 days, but he hasn’t scored since. In 14 games this calendar year, he’s compiled just four assists during a challenging stretch for the whole team.
“I guess dry January is a thing,” Kopitar joked to reporters at practice on Tuesday.
On the back end, Brandt Clarke returned to the lineup (+1 rating) but to neither power-play unit, with Drew Doughty and Jordan Spence manning each group’s respective point position. He drew back in out of necessity, it appeared, as Mikey Anderson’s apparent hand/finger injury kept him out of the contest.
Kings media personality Zach Dooley reported that Anderson skated alone in a red jersey before practice on Monday and Tuesday, indicating a lack of availability for Wednesday, at a minimum.
“Whatever he’s got, it’s going to have to heal through treatments and relatively naturally, which is a positive,” Hiller told reporters on Tuesday.
The upcoming pause for the first ever Four Nations Face-Off will afford every King except Adrian Kempe 13 days of rest and recuperation.
A grueling road trip with three games in four nights against three of the East’s top teams after losses to two of the conference’s hottest clubs offered a light at the end of the tunnel in more ways than one. In addition to the victory, the Kings now have their next six games at Crypto.com Arena, three on each side of the break, and 22 of their final 32 matches at home.
That’ll begin with the Canadiens, who went from being soaring to boring in short order. In the five weeks between Dec. 15 and Jan. 22, Montreal was the NHL’s best team by both record and points percentage, amassing a 13-3-1 mark and a .794 clip that was 100 points better than the next most successful team.
Yet for captain Nick Suzuki, sniper Cole Caufield, former No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovský and Calder Trophy candidate Lane Hutson, losses in five straight games have relegated them to the wrong side of the playoff bubble. Most recently, they blew a two-goal lead in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Ducks.
CANADIENS AT KINGS
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
How to watch: FDSNW