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Kings coach snaps at reporter after blowing lead to Edmonton Oilers

Preston Hodgkinson
Preston Hodgkinson
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Apr 28 2025, 5:29 pm
Kings coach snaps at reporter after blowing lead to Edmonton Oilers
@TSN_Sports/X

The Edmonton Oilers may have rattled the LA Kings after last night’s electric Game 4 OT victory.

Everything seemed to be going L.A.’s way after the first two games. They were tearing apart the Oilers’ penalty kill and had sent them into a goaltending crisis before Game 3 of the series. It looked like this was the year they would finally get past Edmonton.

Then the series shifted to the Alberta capital, and everything changed. The Kings held third-period leads in both Game 3 and Game 4 but managed to crumble under the pressure. Game 3 was maligned by a failed coaches’ challenge that set up the Oilers’ eventual game-winner, while Game 4 saw the Kings sit back and allow Edmonton to get back into the game.

Kings coach Jim Hiller was asked about his team’s inability to close out games after Game 4 to which he gave an angry answer to.

“Next question, please,” Hiller said. “We’re that far away from the empty net, [Byfield] chips that one out, Bouchard makes a good play, we’re not even talking about this. So, how about that?

“That’s your favourite question, by the way. You got some ideas for me?”

Even with the Oilers pressing late in the third period, Hiller is right that the game was in the Kings’ hands right up until Evan Bouchard tied things late. L.A. had just missed an empty net chance on the previous play, and Quinton Byfield could have iced the game if he had just chipped the puck out of the zone. Instead, he tried to skate it out of the Kings’ end, only to be stopped by the Oilers defenceman at the blueline.

That play eventually evolved into the game-tying goal.

Not only that, but Hiller has made some curious decisions with his lineup throughout these last two games. He has cut the ice time of several players to basically nothing, meaning the Kings have been limited to nine forwards and four defencemen for most of the game.

The heat has been turned up for the Kings with the Oilers now holding all the momentum. Is this headed to a fourth-straight Edmonton series victory, or will L.A. find a way to rebound on home ice?

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