At one point in power rankings, the Los Angeles Kings were close to breaking through the Top 5. However, a recent slump has them barely hanging on inside the Top 10.
The record for the middle part of January hasn't been great after they opened the month with three straight wins over the New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning and Winnipeg Jets. Since that stretch, the Kings have won only two out of their next six games.
A majority of those games were on the road as they were in the midst of a five-game road trip. However, they have some lackluster performances in games, that should have been wins, against the Seattle Kraken and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins game in particular stands out because this was a game that was at home and the Kings were excellent this season in Crypto.com Arena.
The good news is that they bounced back against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers after some line changes were made ahead of that game.
It will be interesting to see if the momentum can continue as they are once again on the road for five games over eight days. There are certainly some winnable games, but there are also some big tests against the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, two teams that are ranked ahead of them in all of this week's power rankings.
Unfortunately, the game against the Hurricanes is at the end of the road trip and it will be worth watching if they are able to play with the same energy they have at the beginning of the road trip.
These are where the Los Angeles Kings rank in the power rankings on Bleacher Report, ESPN, and NHL.com for this week.