Has it really been a week since I last posted? It’s amazing how quickly time flies! My apologies to all, I was away and unfortunately unable to post as frequently as I’d have liked. That said, the Kings were quite busy over the last few games. Let’s take a look how they’re doing:
Kings v. Red Wings – LOSS (2-1)
Kings v. Blues – LOSS (4-3)
Kings v. Sharks – LOSS (2-1)
Kings v. Ducks – WIN (4-0)
Kings v. Bruins – WIN (4-3)
As you can see from that stretch run of games, they had a bit of a struggle after the beat down that they put on the Sharks the game before. Perhaps it was a bit of a hangover, perhaps (as is the case with Detroit especially) they ran into an insanely hot keeper. Regardless, it is clear that streaks of three consecutive losses isn’t going to be sustainable in the long run.
Fortunately after putting in a relatively lackluster and disappointing performance (for my benefit, sitting in the 3rd row from the ice) against the Sharks, they turned things around against the hated Ducks. Of course the Ducks were missing some of their players, including Selanne who had been injured the game prior. Despite these mitigating circumstances, the utterly dominating performance by the Kings snapped a 5 game winning streak for the Ducks, and put the Kings back on the right track.
The Kings continued their strong play with a shootout win against the Bruins two nights ago, and are gearing up for the last two games in this homestead, against the Sharks (again) and the Sabres. They should be two very telling games for the Kings. Having dominated the season series against the Sharks so far, it is important for them to come out strong and get a result against the division leading Sharks, and it will certainly be no easy test to defeat Ryan Miller and his impressive skills.
What do you think we have to look forward to? Are the Kings going to be able to turn up the heat and go into the Olympic break strong? Or are we looking at limping into the break on the verge of falling out of the playoff race? At this point I think a 6-8 place finish in the Western Conference is where I see the Kings ending up, although they certainly could fall out of contention if they can’t keep it together. Either way, it’ll be the most interesting March and April in recent history for Kings fans!