LOS ANGELES -- It's no secret that the Los Angeles Kings have been offensively challenged for stretches of this season, ranking in the bottom half of the league in goals scored.
At different points, Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Warren Foegele and Alex Laferriere have all gone through hot streaks where they were the team's main offensive threat. Right now, that main threat comes from the duo of Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield.
Through the team's last 30 games, Byfield has led the team in even strength scoring with 21 points, while sits second in total points through that stretch with 22.
Since returning from the 4-Nations faceoff the duo has combined for seven points in two games, continuing the tear they were on before the two-week break.
On Monday, when the team needed some juice, we saw Hiller turn to those two, loading their line up by moving Adrian Kempe away from Anze Kopitar and onto their line.
The move immediately bore fruit with three of the four third-period goals featuring players from that line.
"We were moving the lines around quite a bit, in the second period there wasn't much going on and they just happened to have a chance to go together," said Hiller when asked about the switch. "I thought they had a spark so we got them out there again, they had a spark again, and I thought the last two or three shifts of the second period they gave us some life, brought some energy to the building. We discussed 'should we keep them together' we don't usually do that, we felt like we're down by one they had some energy let's give them a run. They were really good clearly, made a big difference. I don't know if we'll see it again, I'm sure we will at some point, but we'll just have to talk about it as a coaching staff."
For the last few seasons, it's felt like you could put anyone next to Kopitar and Kempe and they'd find success. That pair is now Byfield and Fiala for the Kings. They've found success recently regardless of linemates and putting the Kings' best forward in Kempe unsurprisingly was a successful formula.
As Hiller said, who knows if that will become permanent and there's logic in spreading your talent out, but having that line in your back pocket is never a bad option. If Hiller does go back to that line, this could be the moment we see the 1C torch passed to Byfield.
It's premature to say that's happening, however, Byfield has outproduced Kopitar for a while now and has taken on the Kings' toughest matchups through different stretches. If it doesn't happen now, or during this season, Byfield appears ready to take that mantle at any point with Fiala by his side.
"I think just trusting each other if Kevin turns over the puck, I'll be there, I'll back check for him and vice versa too," said Byfield on what's working so well for those two. "We're not just playing for ourselves we're playing for each other, we're playing hard. I trust him to make those 'Kevin plays' he makes a lot of plays out there. I told him to just be himself and I've got your back if you turn it over. We just trust each other, we're confident."
Whatever it is that has Byfield and Fiala clicking so well, the Kings need it to continue. They've desperately lacked the ability to match up with the opposition's superstar talent in the past, and while it's too early to say Byfield and Fiala give them a line who can do that, they're the two players with the talent to do it on the roster.
Add in the potential of having Kempe on their line too and the Kings might be able to go toe-to-toe with the top teams in the league.