KINGS: Los Angeles gets back on track under Hiller

LOS ANGELES — Since former head coach Todd McLellan’s firing, the Kings have a 6-2-0 record and are now even with the Edmonton Oilers at 68 points, just three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division.

Interim head coach Jim Hiller’s team tallied two big wins on the road this past week before heading home for a date with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where Los Angeles won its fourth straight game in a 5-1 rout. LA’s hopes of extending its four-game win streak were shattered, though, when the Nashville Predators’ defensive performance shut down the Kings in a 4-1 result. However, Los Angeles found the win column again in a rivalry affair with the Anaheim Ducks in a 3-2 shootout win to finish the homestand on a positive note.

While the Kings have been victorious recently, two players did suffer injury setbacks. Forward Viktor Arvidsson was placed on the long-term injury reserve right as he had returned to action, following a back surgery that sidelined him for the first 50 games of the season. Arvidsson sustained a lower-body injury against the Blue Jackets which will keep him absent for the next 10 games at least. He only appeared in four games before this new injury.

“When [Arvidsson] is in the lineup, he’s full of energy, he’s passionate,” Hiller said. “He wants to win as bad as anybody in the building.”

On top of Arvidsson’s injury, top-four defenseman Mikey Anderson will sit out week-to-week as he suffered an upper-body injury against the Predators, bringing a need for the Kings’ defensive pieces to rise to the occasion.

In the previous week, when the Kings were on the road, Los Angeles secured a 6-5 overtime win over the Boston Bruins, a game for the ages. The Kings’ penalty kill answered the call in the extra frame when Boston went on the man advantage before rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke exited the penalty box in a heartbeat. As soon as center Phillip Danault defended a pass from Bruins winger David Pastrnak, Danault found Clarke, whose breakaway opportunity resulted in his first NHL goal and the game winner for Los Angeles.

Center Pierre-Luc Dubois tallied two assists in the win as well, marking his first multi-point performance since Jan. 15.

The Kings’ next test was the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were celebrating the jersey retirement of legend Jaromir Jagr. Kings winger Adrian Kempe was the game changer in a close, 2-1 finish. LA couldn’t find the back of the net in the first two periods before Kempe evened the game with about six minutes remaining in the third. A delay of game call on Kings winger Trevor Moore, though, with 5:03 remaining, gave the Penguins the chance to win the game. With seconds ticking on Pittsburgh’s power play, Kings center Anže Kopitar intercepted a pass and dished it to Kempe in the neutral zone, who wristed the puck from the far-side circle to score the shorthanded, go-ahead goal. LA held on to win and headed home with confidence.

Against Columbus, Dubois had himself yet another two-point performance, but it was Winger Quinton Byfield who got the show started. After a tiresome start to the first period, Byfield notched an impressive coast-to-coast goal where he deked a defender and finished with a backhanded shot on his knees. Goaltender Cam Talbot also made 33 saves in a solid 5-1 Kings victory.

The following game against Nashville was a different story, however. The Kings and Preds traded one goal apiece in the first before Nashville’s Mark Jankowski poked in the eventual game-winner in the second. The Predators later scored twice on the empty net for insurance and finished with a 4-1 victory.

Most recently, LA defeated Anaheim in this season’s second Freeway Face-Off. The Kings and Ducks needed a shootout to decide the victor, but in regulation, battled in a special teams war. The teams both tallied power play goals in the first period and Kings winger Kevin Fiala extended his goal streak to three straight games. Anaheim took the lead on a shorthanded, two-on-one breakaway chance in which center Sam Carrick tipped in the go-ahead goal. Los Angeles found itself on the power play five minutes later, though, and Drew Doughty tied the game with his 13th goal of the year, his most in a season since 2015-16.

The third period and overtime frame saw efficient defense. In the shootout, L.A. outlasted the Ducks as David Rittich made the game-winning stop to seal the matchup’s fate, 3-2.

“That was huge. Every point matters right now,” said defenseman Matt Roy. “We dug ourselves a bit of a hole there in January, so we need to take what we can get now.”

This week, the Kings will venture up to Western Canada for critical bouts with Pacific opponents. The Oilers, Flames and Canucks are on tap next and Los Angeles will hope to keep its playoff push going strong.