LA Kings: The month of February team report card
With February in the books, how did the LA Kings do for the month?
The first full month of the LA Kings season is now complete, and to the surprise of some, they find themselves in the thick of a battle for a playoff spot. Yes, there is a lot of hockey left to be played, and a lot can happen, but even being in this position is a welcome development in the franchise’s rebuild.
The Kings started and ended the month of February with losing streaks, as they lost their first four games as well as their last two. Between these two losing streaks was a six-game winning streak that vaulted the team into the aforementioned playoff battle.
Thanks in large part to that winning streak, the LA Kings picked up a very impressive 9 out of 12 points on the recent six-game road trip. They finished the month of February with a 6-5-1 record and have an overall record of 9-7-4.
So how does the Kings’ first full month of the season break down? Like the last report card we did, there will be four categories: offense, defense, goaltending, and special teams.
Category number one: offense
Current grade: B
Previous grade: C
Buoyed by a stretch where they scored four or more goals in three of four games, the LA Kings offense showed some improvement over their first ten games of this season. For the entire season, they are still a middle-of-the-pack team in this category, as their 60 goals scored have them at fifteenth overall in the NHL. For the month of February, the Kings scored 35 goals, which equals an average of 2.9 goals scored per game.
To take the next step offensively, the Kings will need to improve their output during five-on-five play. For the season, the team has scored 33 goals in this category, where the league average is 37. To remedy this, the team will need more secondary scoring and more offensive contributions from their defensemen, not named Drew Doughty. Gabe Vilardi seems to have found his groove as of late, and Alex Iafallo quietly had eight points, but perhaps this is why the rumor mill has GM Rob Blake looking for a dynamic left-shot defenseman.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the offense was led by the team’s veteran corps. Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Dustin Brown each had eleven points for the month of February, with the 36-year-old Brown scoring an impressive eight goals. The LA Kings have come to expect excellence from these players, and for the team to continue an upward trajectory, that excellence will need to continue.
Category number two: defense
Current grade: B-
Previous grade: D
This was a tough one to grade, as the Kings defense can appear to be very Jekyll and Hyde. During the February winning streak, the team gave up two goals or less in each game, and in only three of their losses did they give four or more goals. Overall for the season, they are right at the league average for goals surrendered during five-on-five play.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem too bad, right? A closer look at the numbers reveals the defense has been helped by some stellar goaltending (more on that on the next page) and perhaps even some luck. The LA Kings are giving up an average of 32 shots on goal per game, which places them at only 24th out of 31 teams in the league. The defense also seems to at times have trouble clearing out the front of their goal, which will need to be corrected if the Kings are going to be a playoff team.
To their credit, the defense corps has been a revolving door this month due to injuries and recalls. Matt Roy and Sean Walker are back, and it looks like Tobias Bjornfot is here to stay. At any given time, the Kings defense has up to four players with less than three full seasons of NHL experience, and it will get better as time goes on. Although the numbers are not overwhelmingly better, overall, the LA Kings defense corps was better in February than in January.
Category number three: goaltending
Current grade: A
Previous grade: B
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Calvin Petersen and Jonathan Quick have been the key to the LA Kings return to the playoff conversation. This may seem like a pretty bold statement given LA goaltending had a record of 6-6 for the month of February. Still, without these two, the team is probably closer to going back into the draft lottery instead of talking playoffs.
Let’s start with Petersen. His record for the month of February was 3-4 with one no-decision (he relieved Quick in a game versus Vegas on February 5th). While a 3-4 record is not remarkable, Petersen had a .931 save percentage for the month while facing an average of 34.25 shots per game! Of Petersen’s four losses, only one was by more than one goal, which was a 3-1 loss versus Anaheim on February 2nd, in which if he didn’t “stand on his head,” the score would have been much worse. Now consider another one of his losses was in the shootout, and yet another one was lost with 0.3 seconds left in overtime. You’ll see why he has earned the trust of the LA Kings coaching staff.
Reports of Jonathan Quick’s demise seem to be greatly exaggerated. After giving up four goals on ten shots in the February 5th game against the Vegas Golden Knights (to his credit, he was under siege right from the start), Quick returned to the form that has made him a franchise icon. He won three of the next four games he started, which included two shutouts. It has become apparent that keeping the goaltending duties in an approximate 60-40 split in Petersen’s favor should keep Quick rested and efficient. It will greatly benefit the team going forward.
Category number four: special teams
Current grade: B+
Previous grade: A
Simply put, excellent special teams play has been a calling card of the LA Kings all season long.
The power play was ranked 11th in the NHL after ten games, and at the end of February, with twenty games played, it is still ranked 11th. Overall, Dustin Brown leads the team with five power-play goals, and Anze Kopitar has a stellar twelve assists with the man advantage. For the season, the Kings power play has a success rate of 25% and continues to help make up for some of the team’s five-on-five deficiencies.
The penalty-killing units continue to incredibly effective as well. However, overall, their success rate dropped to 85.9% from the 86.4% they posted last month – leading to a B+ grade instead of another A (I know it’s nitpicking). Successful teams have successful special teams units, and the Kings appear to be on the right track here. As the team and especially the defense corps continue to gel, the special teams should get even better.
West Division power rankings after Week Seven. dark. Next
As a whole, this LA Kings team has the appearance of a playoff contender. There will be ups and downs, as shown by the extremes of the winning and losing streaks of the month of February, but this team is also very young and will improve with time. More roster turnover will certainly happen as injuries, recalls, and perhaps even a trade are bound to happen. We’ll see how that affects the month of March report cards.