The Los Angeles Kings are entering a pivotal week of the season and it starts on Monday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings have struggled recently and lost their last three games and there is a strong case to be made that they should have won two of those games against the Canucks and Blues.
Looking ahead to this week, the Kings have a good chance to quickly turn around their fortunes as they have one final road game against the Chicago Blackhawks before returning home for two straight games against the St. Louis Blues. If the Kings can win those three they will go into a big showdown with the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday with some serious momentum.
However, it has to start in Chicago tonight and the Kings need to put behind the recent string of bad performances. These are four players in particular who need better performances to help the team turn things around.
4 LA Kings who need better performances against the Chicago Blackhawks
Anze Kopitar
The first player is the Kings' captain and their leader in Anze Kopitar, who has been in a serious slump since the beginning of January. In 22 games, Kopitar has only eight points and a +/- of -10 which is a significant drop off from the first three months of the season when he had 39 points in 36 games.
If there is a positive to point towards it is that Kopitar is being honest with where the team is and where he is currently in the season. According to Zach Dooley, he had this to say after the game on Saturday against the Blues:
"It’s definitely not been an easy span here, but just got to keep on plugging away. I guess the good part is we did get a few wins during that span, so that’s obviously good, but in order for us to go where we want to go, everybody’s got to be on top of that game and like I said, it’s me on top of that list."
While the Kings didn't get the win, Kopitar was able to secure a point with an assist against the Blues. This may be a sign that the season is turning around for the team's captain but he should look to set the tone for the Kings.
Jordan Spence/Jacob Moverare
For most of the season, the Los Angeles Kings have been able to rely on a strong defense and this group was one of the best in the league. However, the past two games has been a very different story as the pairing of Drew Doughty and Joel Edmundson really struggled against the Stars followed by Jordan Spence and Jacob Moverare having their poor performance against the St. Louis Blues.
On Saturday against the Blues, Moverare had a +/- of -2 and Spence was a team-worst -3 in the category. According to Hockey Stat Cards, these two had by far the worst performance as Spence was a team-worst -4.76 and Moverare was -3.37. The next closest Kings player was Phillip Danault at -1.55.
This part of the roster has been one of the most discussed for the Los Angeles Kings with Brandt Clarke being a healthy scratch, or when he is active, he is seeing limited ice time. It wouldn't be surprising to see Jim Hiller start with this pairing, but if they struggle early, we might see Clarke replace Spence next to Moverare.
Darcy Kuemper
The final player who needs to play much better to help the Los Angeles Kings is Darcy Kuemper, who gave up six goals in his last start against the Dallas Stars. The good news is that Kuemper has been excellent prior to this game against the Stars so this is not necessarily a concerning trend but the Kings as a team need help to end this losing streak and Kuemper can be a big factor in that.
Prior to the game against the Stars, Kuemper had won his four previous starts and that included wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights. He has been really good in the crease and if he can get back to that against the Blackhawks, the Kings have a good chance to end the losing streak.