LA Kings: Three Takeaways from This Short Losing Streak
The Defense Has Not Shown Up
The Kings have been outscored by quite a bit over the past three games. A team that usually defeats teams by wide margins, Los Angeles just has not looked the same lately. Granted it’s a small sample size, but worrisome nonetheless. The Kings have been outscored 13 goals to just 6 on this three game skid, even though Saturday’s game was a one point margin.
That means that they have essentially been blown out in the past two. And that couldn’t be more true, as they lost to New Jersey 5-1 and the Rangers beat them 4-2. While there a number of factors that go into these sort of losses, it’s worth noting Jonathan Quick’s struggles. Since the 12th when the losing started, the Kings have given up the third most goals in the league. And the other two high are some of the worst teams in the league.
The hope that Quick will easily bounce back seems easy with a bit of rest. After all, he is in the top seven goal tenders in the league. That’s amazing when you considered how poor his last two games went.
The High Powered Offense Needs a Boost
Throughout the course of the season, the Kings have been near the top ten in goals scored across the league. This can partially be attributed to the revival of Anze Kopitar around the net, but the team as a whole is scoring goals like crazy. Lately, that spark has been put out.
Adrian Kempe burst onto the scene for the Kings this year, scoring a hat trick and seemingly a goal every game in late October. Since then, he has gone relatively quiet. Since November 2nd, the young winger has scored four goals. That is definitely a drop off from the six goals he scored in October, and art of the reason the offense has struggled.
One notable stat about the Kings offense lies in their opportunities. Despite being one of the league’s best in scoring, they don’t shoot very often in comparison. In fact, the Kings rank near the bottom in shots per game at 31. There has been more of the same in this stretch, with only 81 shots in the three game span. That would put them at below their season average.
They Just Cannot Seem to Capitalize on Power Plays
Every good coach knows that if you can’t score on a team down a player, then your chances of winning a game are fairly low. That couldn’t be more true of the Kings this past week. In this three game streak, the Kings have capitalized on just one power play opportunity. That means out of the seven chances they had to score while the other team was down a player, the Kings were only successful once.
I’m no math major, but I’m almost sure that a team that has a 14% success rate on power play opportunities probably wont win a ton of games. The line changes haven’t been quite in sync, and the results have really shown. Teams have been able to clear the puck down ice and steer clear of trouble with ease. If you want to win games, you MUST capitalize on power play opportunities.
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Despite all that, things are still looking up for Los Angeles. The Kings will head up to Philadelphia for a game against the Flyers, and then head home for one game against Colorado. The Flyers sit near the bottom of the standings in the Metropolitan division, and the Avalanche aren’t doing any better. The two teams have a combined record of 29-26-9 on the season.