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Kevin Fiala returned to the Kings’ lineup with a goal and an assist after missing the game due to injury.
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Kevin Fiala returned to the Kings’ lineup with a goal and an assist after missing the game due to injury.

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Fiala had an excellent bounce-back game after being penalized for violating team rule the night before.

The Los Angeles Kings forward had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night.

Fiala was a healthy scratch Tuesday in San Jose after missing a team meeting for not sounding the alarm. He said his iPhone broke and he tried using his iPad as an alarm, but that didn’t work.

“We will never do this again,” Fiala said. “I was lucky to get a game today and not in like three or four days. I think it was easier to give up today and have a good game. And hopefully we can all forget about that now.”

Coach Jim Hiller said he spoke with Fiala before the game and they both walked away from the incident.

But the healthy scratch came during a bad four-day spell for Fiala. He was taken off the bench in the third period of last Saturday’s game against Utah after taking two penalties that earned him five minors in five games.

“It might look like, ‘Oh, he got benched and now he’s missing (a meeting).’ I’m not worried about Kevin. “Kevin will get him back,” Hiller said. “There’s nothing malicious about anything Kevin does. Kevin is a team guy. He wants his team to be successful. He sometimes has trouble controlling his emotions and taking punishment. But that’s not something he does on purpose.” , I was happy to see him rewarded tonight.”

Fiala got on the scoresheet midway through the second period by assisting on Anze Kopitar’s goal that extended Los Angeles’ lead to 4-0.

Fiala then scored his third power-play goal of the season 6:23 into the third period to give the Kings a 5-0 lead.

“He’s the game-breaker. We need him to get on the scoresheet,” said captain Anze Kopitar. “We want to get him on the power play and give him chances. “It would definitely be good for him to get a few points tonight.”

Fiala has five goals and eight points in nine games. After scoring 29 goals and 73 points last season, the third 70-point campaign of his career, he admitted that he put a lot of pressure on himself.

“You always want to be better than last year. “The real answer is that sometimes it’s hard,” he said. “Mentally sometimes you try to do too much or think too much about goals because all these expectations The simple thing is to just be in the moment and just take the game. -depending on the game. Sometimes it’s not that easy. I’ve had a bit of a hard time with this this season. And hopefully that helps me take it one play at a time, stay in the moment and control what I can control.”

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