The NHL’s schedule-makers have done a number on the Los Angeles Kings, who have reached a much-needed holiday break.
Before we offer up an excuse for the Kings’ arduous road trip fizzling out Sunday in Washington, there were other factors. The renovations to Crypto.com Arena pushed them out of their home for the entire preseason and the first seven games. And this seven-game trip — 15 days without a stop in L.A. — wrapped up a journey that covered approximately 7,650 miles, even though three of the games were within the New York metropolitan area.
The Kings played their 21st road game on Sunday, a 3-1 loss to the Capitals that brought the trip to a close with a 3-2-2 record. The Kings aren’t in a bad place. They’re 19-10-5, a point behind Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.
“All in all, not a terrible road trip,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “Nice to feel good about the way we’ve been playing going into break and try and carry it over when we come back.”
A five-game homestand awaits, and it begins with the Oilers on Saturday in the teams’ first meeting since Edmonton’s decisive five-game victory in the first round – the Kings’ third consecutive playoff elimination at the Oilers’ hands. The upcoming schedule is more balanced between home and road, but it remains challening, with games against New Jersey, Tampa Bay (twice), Calgary (twice), Edmonton (again), Vancouver and Florida (twice) before the end of January.
It’s a daunting task for the Kings as they try to avoid another midseason pitfall that cost Todd McLellan his job last season but gave Jim Hiller the opportunity to dig out from it and earn his first NHL head coaching gig. Let’s look at a few observations at where their game is at.
Turcotte’s first-line contribution
Left wing on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe has lacked stability. Trevor Moore was the latest to get a regular turn until an upper-body injury forced him out of the lineup for the last five games. Alex Turcotte got another look there and seized the opportunity.
Turcotte had a goal and assist in the 5-1 win over the New York Rangers and followed up with a breakaway goal in an overtime loss to Pittsburgh. He gave Kopitar a terrific saucer pass for the center’s second goal of the night in a four-goal, third-period uprising in Philadelphia. How long he stays on the top line is up to Hiller but he’s showing that his skill and determined skating is a match for L.A.’s top forward duo.
“Playing with those guys is always a treat and I’ve had a good amount of experience with that this year,” Turcotte told reporters after the win over the Rangers. “It felt really easy with them.”
Kuemper stabilizing the net
Because of a back-to-back set, Darcy Kuemper didn’t face his old Capitals club after playing against the Predators. And while Pierre-Luc Dubois was a factor Sunday with two assists in a rebound season for Washington, Kuemper has provided quality work for Los Angeles so far. The one-for-one June trade has benefitted both teams.
Oddly, Kuemper has all five of the Kings’ losses in either overtime or a shootout. But other than the weird eight-goal outlier early on, in a wild loss to Ottawa, the 34-year-old netminder hasn’t allowed more than three goals in his other 15 starts. Nine have included two goals or fewer. (He had to leave the Nov. 13 game at Colorado because of injury.)
Overall, Kuemper’s 2.40 goals-against average ranks ninth among goalies who have played at least 11 games. MoneyPuck has him at 0.0 in goals saved above expected but that’s much better than last season’s 4.8 more goals allowed than expected with Washington.
An identity line is formed
The Kings have Quinton Byfield centering Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot on a line that’s either considered their second or third after the “AAA” top line. It’s become an effective grouping. While their five-on-five numbers are marginally positive across the board, Natural Stat Trick has the three on the ice for seven goals produced and none against.
Byfield scored three times on the trip to double his season total. Foegele continues to be terrific, as he had multi-point efforts against the Rangers and Flyers and is on a 22-goal, 44-point pace. Jeannot has a modest total of four goals, but one came against Philadelphia and his physical nature — he is credited with a team-leading 86 hits — fits with the size and speed that Byfield and Foegele bring.
Powerful penalty kill
The Kings were nearly perfect in short-handed situations on the trip. Washington’s Jakub Vrana buried a power-play goal past David Rittich on Sunday moments after a clearing attempt hit the linesman at the Los Angeles blue line and allowed the Capitals to keep possession in the offensive zone.
It snapped a run of 16 consecutive penalties that the Kings erased. A more aggressive approach in their setup has brought success. They’ve got some strong defenders to deploy. Byfield and Foegele are now full-time penalty-killers, joining Kopitar and Kempe. On the back end, Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov pull duty in addition to being their top defensive pair. They’re up to 11th in the league on the penalty kill at 81.7 percent.
Powerless power play
On the flip side, the Kings’ power play is a sore spot. Just as the penalty kill was perfect until Sunday, the power play went scoreless in 10 chances until Kevin Fiala fired in a one-time shot to cash in their only advantage. Assistant coach Newell Brown is in his first season directing L.A.’s power play after spending the last three years with Anaheim. But the Kings have generated only 14 goals in 88 chances. Kempe has a team-leading 16 goals, but only two have come on the power play.
The Kings were 12th last season, and had 56 power-play goals. They’ve got a lot of work to do just to come close to matching that. One good sign is Fiala is delivering with the advantage. He had 11 power-play goals to lead the team last season, and he’s got five of their 14 this year. Three goals over the last three games have boosted his season total to 13.
The 11-7 formation is working … we think?
One of Hiller’s defining elements since he took over on an interim basis last season is his commitment to using 11 forwards and seven defensemen. At first, they utilized it essentially to get Brandt Clarke some power-play time and an occasional five-on-five shift before they returned him to the AHL. This year, Clarke is on a regular pairing with Joel Edmundson, and Kyle Burroughs has operated as the extra blueliner in the lineup.
Hiller has been running 11-7 consistently, with Burroughs playing all seven games on the trip. But the veteran never played more than 9:57 in Philadelphia. He had fewer than five minutes of ice time in New Jersey and Nashville. It does give their wingers extra shifts and, more important, doesn’t seem to be keeping the Kings from winning games. But eventually they should get Moore, Trevor Lewis and Phillip Danault, who missed Sunday’s game, back. Once Drew Doughty is able to play, you wonder if Hiller will return to a standard 12-6 lineup.
An ageless No. 1 center still trucking
Travel could be the only thing that slows the 37-year-old Kopitar down. The two losses this past weekend saw him go without a point in consecutive games for just the second time this season, and the first since Oct. 22-24. Kopitar looked like he didn’t have the same jump that was evident earlier on the trip — and for much of this season.
Still, Kopitar leads the Kings with 37 points while playing all 34 games. He’s finding ways to stay fresher throughout a long season. While he continues to use his 6-foot-3 frame to shield defenders from the puck and win board battles, Kopitar doesn’t lay hits on the opposition (he’s been credited with eight all year and none since Nov. 27). He also shoots the puck only when there’s a golden scoring chance. And with zero penalty minutes, he’s virtually a lock to win his third Lady Byng Trophy.
(Photo of Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar and Alex Turcotte: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
