If you put last night’s performance into a vacuum, it’s a blip on the radar. When times are good, a game like that you’d just chalk up to being one of those games. When you’ve won five of 13 games to start a season, you look at it a little bit differently. And you think, there’s just something off right now. Something missing. Something not there.
Well, actually, last night it was a blip on the radar anyways, seeing as the city of Los Angeles had its focus elsewhere. Not sure November hockey quite stacks up to November baseball as far as that’s concerned.
So, if you’re going through your day today and getting up to speed, here’s the rundown. Thursday, the Kings generated a season-high 88 shot attempts. They promptly went and got even more on Saturday with 93 in total, the most in a game since December 28, 2023 in Vegas……which was also a loss. Not only is it a season high for the Kings, but that’s the most by any team this season in the NHL in a single game, let alone a game decided in 60 minutes. I don’t know how to track this, but 181 shot attempts over 120 minutes has got to be up there as well in recent memory.
If the Kings generate that profile of chances every night for the rest of the season they’ll win a lot more games than they lose. Again, when things are going well, you feel confident that games like this will turn. In a vacuum, it’s all fine. But that would just be some assuming that all of the pieces magically come together. Right now, with that something missing, the Kings aren’t turning large stretches of good hockey into victories. It’s a similar story to Thursday, minus the 6-on-5 rally which salvaged a point. Without those two late goals against the Red Wings, it’s two very similar hockey games. The Kings controlled more of the puck, more of the chances, but scored just one 5-on-5 goal across the two games combined. They conceded some on breakdowns or mistakes and some that were good offensive plays that should have been matched at the other end but ultimately weren’t.
Jim Hiller spoke about the game-opening goal for New Jersey, an innocent enough shot from the outside with a deflection on the way to the net. He said the Kings must’ve had 50 similar situations against the Devils without the result. The Kings haven’t gotten a ton of goals on innocent enough plays. Nor have they scored enough on the ones that aren’t innocent at all and that plays into what Anze Kopitar said after the game.
Kopitar spoke last night about the dirty areas. If you have 181 shot attempts and score just four goals, two of which came on on 6-on-5 sequence, then maybe that’s the first place to look. Yeah, he felt the Kings had a lot of time in the offensive zone but the captain didn’t think the team did a good enough job of getting to Corey Perry’s office, if you will. Front of the net, greasy areas, second and third opportunities. The Kings had a ton of volume last night and at 5-on-5 they did have their most high-danger chances of the season in the process. But scoring from in front of the net, in those areas, it’s first about getting there. That’s important. But so is having the poise and composure, the grit and the jam, the finishing ability to put the puck in the net once you’re there. There was something missing in each of those areas right now. The Kings didn’t get there enough and when they did, they didn’t bear down and convert. Can think of several in both buckets.
Kevin Fiala’s approach was that of persistence. He said it sucks right now, certainly, but at the same time, it’s a mind like a goldfish, to Ted Lasso it up a little bit. If the Kings continue to get those chances, they’ll eventually start to go in was his impression. Frustration can’t seep into the group was at the core of what he said. We just have to keep going, was his message, putting the importance on the next game, coming on Tuesday versus Winnipeg, when the Kings will hope to replicate the chances but change the output.
5-on-5 I agree with him. There’s enough going right that the puck will start to go in.
On the power play, though, it’s clear that something needs to change. Hiller was optimistic after the Detroit game. Much less so last night, as the Kings “didn’t generate” and “weren’t dangerous”, in his words. He said on Friday that in terms of personnel deployment, he wasn’t considering any changes at that time. Not sure if it’s personnel, system, approach……but he certainly seems to be considering some changes now. The Kings only have two power-play goals in 5-on-4 situations this season that have come from in-zone deployment. There was a real spark late last season with the five-forward look. That spark has not carried over. Since the start of the recent five-game trip, the power play is under 10 percent. Have to get more there, especially on nights like Saturday when you don’t take a penalty.
The Kings are still in search of that first victory at home. Last season, the Kings had just six regulation losses and ten total defeats at home. They’re already halfway to both totals this year and the calendar just flipped to November. That brings me back to what I wrote up top. At a different juncture of the season, Saturday’s game would have been one of the least concerning losses around. Too many chances, looks, opportunities, attacks, what have you for it to last. It would not be concerning in the slightest.
But right now, there’s a lot of concern.
I recall seeing an interview Ken Holland gave on NHL Radio, where he spoke about 20 games as a litmus test for a team. It’s at that time when you start to build a larger sample size of your group and it’s then you start to look at the changes you potentially want to make, if that sample size isn’t where you want it to be. When the Kings return from their upcoming five-game trip East, that’ll mark exactly 20 games played. A week after that is American Thanksgiving, when, statistically speaking, 12 of the 16 teams in playoff spots will end the season there. The Kings currently sit in one with 14 points, but they’re currently on pace for just 88 points, which hasn’t generated a playoff team since 2016. At Game 13, it’s still very unclear what this team is or what they can be. Before Game 20 might not be a bad time to try and figure that out.