The Los Angeles Kings had their win streak come to an end against the Minnesota Wild as they lost 3-1 on Monday night. Of the four goals, three were scored on power plays and the Wild were able to capitalize on the man advantage more than the Kings and that would be the deciding factor.
The Kings' struggles on the power play are nothing new and have been an issue the entire season and currently have a power play percentage of 15.5%, which is the fifth worst in the NHL. In addition, they have the third-fewest power play goals at only 24 and both stats are the worst of any team currently in the playoffs.
After the game against the Wild, Jim Hiller was asked about the power play unit and if he had seen any encouraging signs. According to Zach Dooley, Hiller acknowledges that there have been improvements but there is still a key part missing:
"I think what we’ve got now is we’ve scored some nice goals, but that unit has to score, and the other unit, they‘ve got to score some dirty goals, some quick bang-bang plays where we just shoot it, we crash the net, there’s three bodies there. It’s nice to see the pretty goals go in but you’re never going to be really good unless you can get some of the dirtier type of goals on the power play as well."
The Kings got one of those pretty goals last night against the Wild as Kevin Fiala was able to pass across the ice to a wide open Adrian Kempe. He didn't miss, and rarely does in that position, to give the Kings the 1-0 lead against Minnesota.
Little extra Juice on that one 🚀 pic.twitter.com/70iA7rAsNl
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 18, 2025
Los Angeles Kings power play unit has gotten better over the past five games
Over the last five games, the power play unit has been producing around the league average as they have converted three of 13 power play play opportunities for a power play percentage of 23%. One of the changes over this period has been the addition of Andrei Kuzmenko, who the Kings traded for at the trade deadline.
However, to Hiller's point all three of the power play goals have come from that top unit as Adrian Kempe has two and Kevin Fiala has the third. The Kings are going to need more from that second unit if they hope to really have consistent improvements.
While it hasn't cost them too many wins this season, like last night against the Wild, the margin of error is much smaller in the playoffs. These types of opportunities need to be capitalized in a seven-game series and usually determines who moves on.