Trevor Moore waits.

He waits, knowing the opportunity of his life could fall in front of him at any second. But he’s not nervous, he’s ready.

And suddenly, it does. Teammate Gabe Vilardi slides him a perfect pass, and Moore has about half a second to do what he needs to do with it.

He doesn’t hesitate. He quickly pokes the puck past Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner into the bottom left corner of the goal, ending the game and sending Crypto.com Arena into a frenzy.

After a review, it’s confirmed. Trevor Moore has just won a crucial game three of round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Los Angeles Kings.

It’d be a big moment for anyone, but this is even bigger for Moore.

This one moment is similar to how Moore’s entire career got here in the first place: chasing every opportunity quickly and decisively, with no hesitation.

Moore was born in Thousand Oaks, California, a town with what you can come to expect from many SoCal towns: natural beauty, warm weather and decidedly no hockey. There’s not even an ice rink in Thousand Oaks (I should know; I live there).

But Moore still fell in love with watching the L.A. Kings. He idolized players like Dustin Brown, who he’s said had a profound positive effect on Southern California hockey. He loved it enough to commute an hour (on a good day with minimal traffic. It’s taken me an hour and 45 minutes before) from Thousand Oaks to L.A. regularly to play hockey for the L.A. Hockey Club.

And not only did he love it, but he was great at it. Eventually, like all good SoCal hockey players, his skill outgrew the infrastructure in the region to support his continued growth. So, he moved from Westlake High School (unfortunate that he’s a former Warrior and not a T.O. High Lancer, but oh well) to Kearney, Nebraska, to play for the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League.

He played well enough for the Storm to earn a hockey scholarship to the University of Denver, where his star turn truly began. He was named a second-team NCAA All-American after his sophomore year.

But for some reason, he went undrafted after his junior year of college. Luckily, the Toronto Maple Leafs recognized his talent and signed him as an undrafted free agent on July 26, 2016.

This move immediately paid dividends, as Moore excelled as a member of the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs’ American Hockey League team. Moore played a huge role in helping the Marlies win their first Calder Cup, the AHL’s championship, in his second season in 2018.

His six goals and 11 assists during the 2018 playoffs demonstrated that no moment was too big for him. That’s likely a big reason why he earned his first call-up to the Maple Leafs the following season.

Moore had a solid next couple of seasons, splitting time between the Leafs and Marlies, but never really carved out a regular role on the big club.

But in a remarkable twist of fate, there was a club ready to give him a bigger opportunity: the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings traded for him in February 2020, bringing the local kid home to represent the team he grew up cheering for, to play alongside players like Brown that he grew up watching. It was the kind of moment dreams are made of.

Moore has dealt with injuries ever since arriving in L.A., but when he has been healthy, he has been effective. In his only full season with the Kings in 2021-22, Moore set career highs in goals with 17, assists with 31 and points with 48 while playing all 81 games.

The Kings saw his constant contribution to a winning team over that season and believed he could do even more. So, midway through the 2022-23 season, they signed Moore to a 5-year contract extension worth about $4 million per year.

It’s a big contract for an unproven player like Moore, who everyone hopes hasn’t reached his full potential as of yet. But if Moore continues to have moments like he did against Edmonton in these past playoffs, the Kings will get something far more valuable in return.

See, with that round-one-game-three goal, Moore did something that had never been done in NHL history. He became the first California-born player to score a game-winning goal in overtime of a playoff game for a California-based team.

The cherry on top, of course, is that he did it for a team he grew up watching and not just a team that happens to be in the state he grew up in.

Somewhere in Thousand Oaks, L.A., or the greater SoCal region, there’s a kid who will never forget seeing that goal live. Just as he used to watch his Kings heroes as a kid, Moore is now a hero to kids all over SoCal.

And who better to be their hockey hero than somebody who was in their shoes once: hockey-obsessed despite all odds (and probably no local rink to play on).

Moore’s already off to a fast start this season. He scored a goal in the Kings’ second game to help fuel a big comeback effort against the Carolina Hurricanes.

He’s shown he can be a catalyst for the Kings’ success. Don’t be surprised if he’s right in the middle of a Kings playoff run.

Because when those opportunities come to be a hero, he’s going to take them. Quickly and decisively.

Ethan Inman is a junior writing about Los Angeles’ unique hockey heroes in his column, “L.A. on Ice,” which runs every other Tuesday.