The Los Angeles Kings need wins, and they need them now. Coming out of the Olympic break, three points out of a playoff spot, after committing to winning now, nothing is more important than making that push toward a playoff spot.
Despite knowing that, the Kings put forward two of their worst efforts on back-to-back nights to kick off the last stretch of the regular season.
Not only are points crucial for the Kings in general, but points against divisional rivals who are ahead in the standings are ones they can’t really afford to give up right now. They had a chance to capitalize on an extremely short-handed Vegas Golden Knights group on Wednesday night, which was missing Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore, Jack Eichel, and Noah Hanifin. Instead, they suffered what most would consider their worst loss of the season, allowing three goals in 4.5 minutes and ultimately losing 6-4.
Their worst loss of the season until the next game, of course. The night after, they welcomed the Edmonton Oilers, the team just four points ahead of them in the standings, and dropped an absolute dud, suffering an 8-1 blowout loss.
No one was happy with that performance, but Kings head coach Jim Hiller had already moved on, mentioning his focus on having his team prepared for Saturday against the Calgary Flames.
“Tonight was a smacking, there’s no denying that. My greatest concern is how can we pick ourselves back up and have energy…Listen, we didn’t feel good tonight. I don’t feel good standing here. Those players don’t feel good, but we got a job to do come Saturday and we got to go win a game.”
Kings Undergoing Post-Olympic Break Nightmare
Two huge opportunities for the Kings to narrow the gap in the standings and get off to a compelling start following the break with the help of newly acquired Artemi Panarin. Two huge opportunities they decided to throw away instead, delivering two consecutive abysmal efforts on back-to-back nights.
The Kings had the advantage on both nights, too. The Golden Knights were missing everything that makes them one of the best teams in the Western Conference, and the Oilers were on the road playing a back-to-back.
For a team that swears it’s playoff-caliber, these last two performances have proved the opposite.
Everything that allowed the Kings to remain in the mushy middle and tread the waters of a playoff spot so far this season went out the window in their first two games back from the Olympic break. Giving up 14 goals on back-to-back nights (eight against Edmonton) is usually a pretty good indication of a team that has a lot to fix and a lot to figure out. That air-tight structure the Kings pride themselves on was non-existent, and they looked more out of sorts than they have all season.
“We’re not playing stingy hockey,” Anze Kopitar said. “We got to keep the pucks out of our net, whether it’s structure, individual effort, sacrifice, blocking shots, winning faceoffs, you name it. All of the above.”
When the one thing that has kept you afloat vanishes, along with the continued struggles to move the puck up the ice and create any sort of meaningful and dangerous offensive production, an 8-1 rout is about what you can expect.
As uncharacteristic as the Kings have looked in their own end over the past two games, it would be a crime not to attribute a lot of the blame to goaltending. An area they had yet to struggle in this season.
Anton Forsberg let a couple squeak by against the Golden Knights that he would have liked to have back the night prior, but nothing could be worse than the combined effort of Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper against the Oilers, who gave up eight goals against on 37 shots. It didn’t seem to matter what was thrown at them; bad goal after bad goal repeated itself.
Aside from watching what found its way past Forsberg and Kuemper against the Oilers, the advanced metrics do it justice. Kuemper, on 15 shots, had an expected goals against of 1.44. He let in four. Forsberg, on 22 shots, had an expected goals against of 2.16. He also let in four. On top of an outright awful night from the players, the Kings’ goaltending reeked and never provided the opportunity to stop the bleeding as the Oilers poured it on and kept digging until the final buzzer.
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It’s one thing to have a bad game, and it’s another to come out with a noticeable lack of effort. The Kings looked lifeless out there, not really doing much of anything other than watching the Oilers effortlessly put on a clinic.
Was this a sign that the Kings have quit on their coach? Because an effort like that at this point in the season, in the position the Kings are in, is almost inexcusable.
Both Kopitar and Mikey Anderson denied that claim when asked blatantly.
“No. It’s just frustrating right now; we’re not playing as a team. Not necessarily quitting on the coach,” Kopitar said. “We have got to figure out within here to get this on the right track.”
The Kings have been a team that has relied on the loser point all season because of their ability to keep the puck out of their net and keep games close. That’s twice in two nights where keeping the puck out of the night hasn’t been their forte, and the results that have followed because of it haven’t been pretty.
Still, through everything this group has shown us this season, with just 24 games remaining in the regular season, Hiller remains confident that it just has to turn around for them.
“I believe in our team, I really do,” he said. “We are going to get on a run and win six or seven or eight games in a row, I know it. I know our team is good enough to do that…I’m positive and optimistic that’s still going to happen.”
The question is, if that streak hasn’t already come, with over two-thirds of the season already done, what makes Hiller so confident that it’s coming?
The Kings have just two regulation wins in their last 17 games, have lost seven straight against Pacific Division teams, are currently riding a four-game losing streak, and sit three points out of the nearest playoff spot.
“We’ve got to get on track here, real, real quick,” Kopitar said. “Obviously, getting to a point where teams on the outside looking in, the chances are slimming down if you’re not on the inside, so we’ve got to get there and start winning games.”
They have been able to say “we’re right there” all season long, and have been right in doing so based on the makeup of the Pacific Division, but if what we have seen over the past few games is any indication of how the remaining 24 games will go, the Kings are going to be a lot closer to Gavin McKenna talk than they will be a playoff spot even in the below average Pacific.
