The Los Angeles Kings ended February with a 6-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday night. The month as a whole was pretty good as they had secured at least one point in the other seven games in February, but a major concern for this team was on full display against the Stars.
The Stars opened the scoring with a goal in the first five minutes of the game but Warren Foegele tied it up a few minutes later. The Kings were assessed a double minor due to a high stick by Tanner Jeannot and the game really opened up for the Stars as they had a power play goal and then scored another goal shortly after the power play expired.
From that point, the Kings were never able to cut the lead to one goal but they certainly had their chances. Over the course of the game, the Kings would have four power play chances were not able to score on any of those and in fact gave up a short-handed goal in the third period.
Power play struggles is nothing new for the Los Angeles Kings
The Kings inability to capitalize on power plays has been an issue for most of the season but fortunately for Los Angeles, it hasn't cost them too much in the win column. They have still been pretty successful in that manner but this game could have been much closer if the Kings could have converted some of those man advantage opportunities.
On the season, the Kings have the third worst power play percentage at 14.7% and of the teams in the bottom 10 of power play percentage they are only one of two teams currently in the playoffs. The other team is the Minnesota Wild and they are five percentage points better than the Kings at 19.6%.
The power play woes may not cost the Los Angeles Kings much in the regular season and they will still probably make the playoffs. However, the margin of error is much smaller once the playoffs roll around and this performance could once again result in a first-round exit.
It wouldn't be surprising to see the Kings try to get more aggressive over the next week to really improve this part of their roster ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline.