LOS ANGELES — Kevin Fiala took his place in the Los Angeles Kings lineup Wednesday night and skated shifts with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, the linemates he’s had for most of the young season, as if nothing had happened.
But something had happened, as the previous two days spelled out. Fiala was a mere spectator Tuesday in San Jose, scratched by Kings coach Jim Hiller after he missed the team bus to SAP Center and was late for the team’s usual game day meeting. Perfectly healthy, the mercurial winger watched the Kings meander through a 4-2 loss to the Sharks as he served a one-game punishment for what the team termed “violating team protocol.”
The best thing for Fiala and the Kings was that they were right back at it Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights, who’ve already moved to the top of the Pacific Division with a strong start. The sour taste for both — Fiala for sleeping in as his agent, Craig Oster, told The Athletic; and Los Angeles for its performance against the league’s worst team — could be washed away, or at least given a cleansing rinse.
An impressive 6-3 response win over Vegas couldn’t have been more pleasing. The Kings’ future continued their rise, as Alex Laferriere added to his team lead in goals and Brandt Clarke added three assists — one of them a spectacular spin and setup to Anže Kopitar — and now sits as a point-per-game player. Alex Turcotte continued to energize lines, injecting Kopitar and Adrian Kempe in what the captain called their best game of the season. Heck, even Joel Edmundson scored again.
But Fiala also returned and contributed a power-play goal and an assist in just over 15 minutes of work. And there was nary an offensive zone penalty by the perennial point producer. It was a step forward after a few taken backward, including when he was benched for the third period Saturday in the Kings’ win over Utah.
KEV! ON THE POWER PLAY! pic.twitter.com/va8QwYKPnB
— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 31, 2024
“Mistakes happen,” Fiala said. “You have to move on. It wouldn’t help any of us to drag this with us. I was lucky to have a game today and not in like three or four days, so I think it was easier to let go. To have a good game today, to win a game and hopefully we can all forget it now.”
The “it” was something he was set on taking ownership of after the game. Fiala’s iPad did not wake him up Tuesday morning; he either didn’t configure it correctly or it was faulty.
“My iPhone was broken,” he said. “Never had the iPad doing the alarm for me and will never do again. It didn’t (go) off honestly. That’s the truth but I take full responsibility.
“I have to be better than that. I felt terrible and let down my teammates. So yeah, of course, I had something to make up for.”
On its own, Fiala’s morning mishap is just a blip in a season or a career. But that it came right after Saturday’s benching by Hiller — the result of two offensive zone penalties, his fifth and sixth minors — raises the question of whether the coach and player are on different wavelengths.
Fiala has been the second-leading scorer in each of his two full Kings seasons. He’s been nearly a point-per-game performer following three-plus years with Minnesota in which he came into his own as a dual-threat offensive force. He’s also long been guilty of taking bad penalties often out of aggression or retaliation.
That’s the other side of the coin with him. The goals he scores or sets up are sometimes counterbalanced with momentum-sapping, ill-advised penalties the Kings don’t need. It is something he cut down on over the second half of last season and it played into a stretch run where he had 16 goals and 30 points over his final 29 games.
Only 12 of his 62 penalty minutes last season came over such instances. In the early going, Fiala had started to backslide with undisciplined play.
“That’s a question that we’ve talked about, that I know he’s thought about quite a bit,” Hiller said. “And he did make those strides. He really did. That’s the disappointing thing I think right now. He had a great run in the second half. He reeled that in.
“I know he had such high expectations for himself this year. Even higher than he’s probably ever had, and he just hasn’t started that way yet. So, you know what? We just got to wipe that clean. He’s just got to give himself a chance to start fresh. We know the player in there. We know he cares. He’ll get back to it. I’m confident of that. I’m not worried about him. Let’s put it that way.
“It might look like, ‘Oh, he got benched and now he’s’ … I’m not worried about Kevin. Kevin will get it back. He cares a lot.”
Both Hiller and Fiala insist there is nothing lingering over the benching or his follow-up mistake.
“There’s honestly no anger,” Fiala said. “I don’t know what’s (said) from outside but obviously got to clean up things for myself. I’m hard on myself, to be honest. I agree with whatever (was said). Just looking forward right now. Just climbing up. Excited for getting uphill hopefully.”
The Kings, with a 6-3-2 record over their first 11 games, have won five of their last seven, collecting points even though they haven’t necessarily been satisfied with their overall game. Wednesday’s win brought them much closer to contentment. They built a 4-0 second-period lead and cruised against a quality club, a division rival they’ll be in standings competition with.
Fiala made plays but looked tentative as he reeled in his attack-mode tendencies. In the third, had had his regular spot on the Kings’ first-unit power play and cashed in a second chance that Kopitar arranged for his 800th career assist. After the puck sailed past Vegas goalie Ilya Samsonov, Fiala was mobbed by his teammates.
It showed they have his back. And Fiala must be there for them in the right way. The Kings need him. They’re not carried by superstars, they weren’t built that way. If they’re going to break a playoff series win drought that has stretched to a decade, they’ve got to have everyone rowing in the same direction.
In trading for Fiala, the Kings added a player who would provide a dynamic twist to their dutiful, mechanical style. He has yet to put them over the top in terms of postseason success, but he can make a difference — though his past has shown it can cut both ways.
“He’s the game-breaker,” Kopitar said. “We need him to get on the scoresheet. Obviously, we need him to play all over the ice. But for the most part, we want to get him on the scoresheet. We want him to get him on the power play, get him chances. For him to get a couple points tonight, I’m sure it’s going to be good for him.”
Hiller said Fiala wasn’t malicious with his actions and called his San Jose alarm malfunction “kind of a freak thing.” “Sometimes he has problems controlling his emotions and he can take penalties,” the coach said. “But it’s nothing that he’s doing purposefully. That I understand.”
The Kings are committed to him for five more seasons. They’ve seen Brock Faber, the player they dealt to acquire him, become a star defenseman for Minnesota. It helps that Clarke is ascending as the top-four blue-line force they imagined him becoming but they still need Fiala to be an asset and not a problem.
“There’s never a good timing for this,” Fiala said. “But obviously this was not good timing at all. Stuff happens and it goes up and down. It’s a long season. Obviously, you never want this to happen but sometimes it happens. You get a kick in the butt and off you go.
“I have to just take it as positive as I can. Just take it like a man to be honest. Move on and try to help the team win. I love it here.”
(Photo: Rob Curtis / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
