The Los Angeles Kings were pummeled by the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday for their fifth consecutive loss, and the fans at Crypto.com Arena made their feelings known about the team’s current slide in the standings.
Connor McDavid contributed two points to cross the 100-point mark for the Oilers, and Leon Draisaitl added four points as Edmonton cruised to an 8-1 victory in Los Angeles. The Kings mustered just 22 shots on net in the deflating defeat.
Fans in the stands announced their ire with head coach Jim Hiller, repeatedly chanting “Fire Hiller,” at the third-year bench boss.
Hiller, who led the Kings to the postseason in each of his first two seasons – where they were eliminated by the Oilers both times – said the only thing he can focus on is winning the next game.
“My focus is on trying to win on Saturday [against the Calgary Flames],” Hiller said after the game on Thursday. “We sign up for this job. I think you’re probably always concerned when you got a job in the coaching world, so that’s just something that’s always tucked away. But what overrides all of that is trying to get your team to win games.”
The Kings signaled their intention to compete for the postseason earlier in February, when they acquired star forward Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers in exchange for prospect Liam Greentree and a third-round draft pick. Panarin was a minus-1 with two shots in just over 18 minutes of ice time in the loss, and has two assists in two games with Los Angeles.
That loss dropped the Kings (23-21-14) to three points behind the Seattle Kraken for the second wild-card slot in the Western Conference playoff picture. They are 10th in the conference, also trailing the Nashville Predators as the final quarter of the season approaches.
“I mean, 24 [games remaining] seems [like] a lot, but we’ve got to get on track here real, real quick,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said to reporters after the game. “It’s obviously getting to a point where teams from the outside looking in, the chances are slimming down if you’re not on the inside. So, we’ve got to get there, obviously, and start winning games.”
As for answers moving forward, Kopitar tried to keep it simple. Kings starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on the first 15 shots he faced, and Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better – allowing four goals on 22 shots.
“I mean, we’ve got to keep the pucks out of our net,” Kopitar said. “Whether it’s structure, individual effort, sacrifice, blocking shots, winning face-offs, you name it, all of the above.”
The Kings had won four of five before this current dry stretch, and the team has been in and out of the playoff picture throughout the season. A game against the basement-dwelling Flames on Saturday will provide an opportunity to right the ship after a rock-bottom showing against the Oilers.
“Sometimes it’s just the way it goes,” Kings defenceman Mikey Anderson said after the game. “Obviously, it’s not a good time to have a game like this. I mean, I don’t know if we’ve had obviously one this bad this year, but for whatever reason, it came today.”