Three days ago, the LA Kings had won one of six games played, staring down a five-game roadtrip. The Kings last season won just 17 times away from home, the second fewest among playoff teams. The first two stops on the trip were St. Louis, where the Kings had won just once since 2021, and Dallas, where they hadn’t won since 2019.
If you were not optimistic heading into that stretch, well it’s a good thing you don’t play for the team. The Kings remained an optimistic group. Joel Edmundson spoke about that and the importance of keeping it light in the room. Joel Armia pointed to not letting frustration get team spirit down, feeling the Kings did a really good job of that early, despite not getting results.
This is a group that was frustrated with the start, but a group that was adamant that it was moments within games deciding the outcome, not the overall game itself. They maintained that if 1 or 2 of those games went the other way, we wouldn’t even be talking about it. Those moments do tend to turn, but for a team with declared aspirations, you only get so long to wait for that to happen before something changes.
In St. Louis, the Kings took their moment in overtime. They played a solid if not unspectacular game, locking things down defensively as well as they have all season. When Andrei Kuzmenko drew a penalty in overtime, the power play felt like a must score. And they did, with Adrian Kempe burying the game-winning goal.
In Dallas, the moment was a third-period penalty kill. The Stars were 2-of-4, as penalties were once again a problem for the Kings. With just over six minutes to play in regulation, Kempe took a minor in the neutral zone. The Kings had struggled on the kill until that point, but got the job done on the most important kill of the game and looked pretty convincing in doing it. Then, Kempe and Quinton Byfield did what they do, combining on a 2-on-1 in overtime to secure two more points. The Kings didn’t start the game well, honestly, and a 5-on-3 power-play goal late in the first was a lifeline back. They got better as the game went along and ultimately showed a lot of battle to get to overtime and eventually get the win. The big kill late in the third period.
Kevin Fiala pointed to the ability to get a result when you’re not “feeling it”. He said that even in those games, you can always work hard and that’s what the Kings did. Even when it wasn’t clean or crisp, the Kings fought the entire way. And they got rewarded for that.
All of a sudden, the Kings are 3-3-2. That’s back at .500, one point out of an early-season playoff spot. Funny how quickly things can change when a couple of the moments go your way. And despite a pair of really big wins on the road against teams that made the playoffs last year, the Kings aren’t just happy with where they’re at.
“It’s a good start but I don’t think we’re satisfied yet with our game fully and I think that’s a good thing for us to keep pushing on this trip, keep finding our game and building.”
That was defenseman Cody Ceci speaking after last night’s game. It vibes with what the Kings were saying after the St. Louis win too. 1-3-2 was overcomeable, but not acceptable within the room. The Kings knew they had better in them. Now that they’ve started to put a couple in the win column, they still know they have better in them. That’s a good thing. We haven’t seen this team’s best yet. We’ve seen parts of the game at a high level. But not the full package. That’s the motivation here. Good. But good isn’t good enough. Hearing that type of approach should feel encouraging.
That 3-3-2 mark has also come against a very difficult start to the schedule. Eight games played, seven against last season’s playoff field, including two Conference finalists. I don’t know if there’s a defined best practice for “strength of schedule” but in looking HERE and HERE, it’s safe to say the Kings have been among the most challenging.
I haven’t leaned into that narrative much, because I don’t buy it as mattering a ton. Lots of really strong opponents, certainly, but the Kings believe that they are a team that can win in the playoffs. If you think that then you’ve got to beat good teams. Losses against good teams can be understandable, but there’s no excuses there. To start this trip, they’ve gotten the job done there, adding on to a win over Vegas a couple weeks back with wins over St. Louis and Dallas.
I think we’ve got to talk about Kempe a little bit now, yeah? Last night, Kempe has extended his road multi-point streak to four games, as he became the first Kings player since the 1992-93 season to do so. Guys named Gretzky and Robitaille did it then.
Kempe also became the first player in LA Kings history to score an overtime game-winning goal in back-to-back games. It was his ninth career goal in overtime, tying Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown for second all-time in franchise history.
The guy can play, man. The Kings haven’t had a player like him in some time. With his two points last night in Dallas, Kempe is one point shy of the NHL’s Top-10 in scoring and he continues to do it without sacrificing the 200-foot game. He kills penalties. He plays with physicality. He brings a swagger to his game that the Kings need a little bit more of. He reiterated to ESPN after last night’s game that his desire has always been to remain with the Kings. I don’t know where the number ultimately lands. But I want that guy on my team every day of the week. And, while I think every day that goes by without a signed contract only adds to the uneasy feeling, I’m pretty confident they’ll find the number that makes it work for both sides.
Kempe and the whole group will get a well-earned day off today. Puck drop last night in Dallas was well after 8 PM. The wheels on the plane weren’t off the ground until after midnight and the team didn’t step foot in their hotel in Nashville until after 2 AM. That’s a late shift. Today, they’re recharge the batteries a bit before a back-to-back in Nashville and Chicago this weekend. Would expect a full group on the ice for morning skate at Bridgestone Arena tomorrow morning.