Make no mistake about it, last night was a missed opportunity for the Kings.
Seattle lost.
Edmonton lost.
Vegas lost.
San Jose lost.
Four games with a direct impact on the push for the postseason and each of those four games went the Kings’ way. Yeah, San Jose lost to Nashville, so you can argue that one in either direction, but even still, the game ended in regulation and that’s really all you can ask for. When you’re on the outside looking in, you almost never get that kind of hand dealt your way, especially on a night when you also play. That’s what the Kings got last night, though. Stage was set.
With those games all but decided as the Kings hit the ice for the third period, the Kings had the chance to seize full control of the situation. Trailing 3-2, they got a massive power-play goal from Artemi Panarin to tie the game and collect the first point. Elite hockey players deliver in those moments. Panarin did that. As has happened so many times this season, though, they couldn’t close the door in regulation, overtime or the shootout, ultimately falling 4-3 via the skills competition.
Now, it’s not like the Kings checked NHL.com, said oh crap, what an opportunity here, and went out with a renewed determination. It doesn’t work like that, nor should it. When you’re in the game, you’ve got to focus on your game. Plus, if each of those teams won, the Kings needed the two points equally, to keep pace, rather than to create space. When you look at things from the macro though, the larger picture, it was a point lost, an opportunity missed, to take a nice step forward.
The one point was enough to bump the Kings into the second wild-card position in the Western Conference, getting a result on a night when every other team did not collect a point. So, there was something there. As D.J. Smith said after a game, each of those other teams came into the day with the same thoughts, the same positioning and when looking at other results, they would have taken the point that the Kings got.
Fair enough. I don’t think he’s wrong. However, I think two things can be true here. Everyone that was asked about last night’s game, either last night or this morning, agreed that not getting the win at home was an opportunity missed. The Kings did outperform the teams around them. But they did so by one point, not two, when the opportunity was there to double their pleasure.
Immediately after the game, forward Adrian Kempe said it was a disappointing output to only get the one point, especially playing at home, with the opportunities around them and the way the game played out. He knew. Forward Trevor Moore echoed that, pointing to the number of overtime defeats this season, adding to that list last night once again. Similar thoughts were shared in the locker room this morning.
“I think so, for sure,” defenseman Brandt Clarke said this morning of the missed opportunity. “It’s unfortunate that we got that close and it slipped away on a day where we could make up some ground, but that’s just the way it is. We’ll just take away the positives and move on to tomorrow.”
It’s just felt like the Kings have kicked the can down the road for 68 games. Last night was perhaps the largest example, the most glaring, because of where we’re at in the season and how fresh the situation was. There was probably another day in November where the same thing happened, we just weren’t focused on it. Last night was just the fresh one. Losing in overtime or a shootout last night didn’t end the season. It actually helped the Kings in relation to their competition. But it was a point lost when you factor in the opportunity to have moved further ahead. In a season of points lost, one of a league-leading 16 losses in either overtime or the shootout, just felt like one of those nights to finally turn the page. To finally flip the script. It just did not happen.
It is possible that the Kings can continue along this path and make the playoffs. The division is simply that far behind the pace and as teams continue to lose, the Kings have steadily gained ground. If you think about it like this, the Kings have won four of the nine games played since Smith became the team’s Interim Head Coach, yet they have gained four points on the playoff field in that time. A 4-3-2 record, a .555 points percentage, and the Kings are +4 on the second wild card spot, +1 on the third seed in the Pacific Division and if you want to get REALLY crazy, they’re +2 on the division lead. They are slowly clawing back.
At some point, though, they’ve got to make the most of games like last night. Someone is going to get hot and rattle of five wins in a row. There are too many teams in too tight a race for that not to happen. If that team isn’t the Kings, as it has not been all season, they have to win two of three, three of four, four of six, ETC, to be in the right position to handle that run. Games like last night go a long way in that area. All five losses under Smith have been tie games inside the final five minutes of regulation. All five. Those become the ones that hurt the most, especially when you get the help you need around the NHL.
At some point, the alleyway ends. There’s a chance it ends by falling into that final wild card spot, but there’s a larger chance it won’t. Eventually, the kings have to take care of their business and win games like last night, especially with an opportunity to gain ground on the field. Last night didn’t hurt as much as this article probably makes it out to be. But it’s more about how it didn’t help as much as it could have.
Games tomorrow and Sunday, versus Buffalo and Utah. The hottest team in the NHL and one of several in a group within striking distance of the Kings. Playoff spot or not, there’s little time to waste. The road left for can kicking is about to reach the end. Time to go.
“We’ve got to help ourselves, we’ve just got to keep winning our games,” Smith added. “There are some key matchups along the way, but we’ve just got to take it game-by-game. I don’t think whether you’re out by a point or in by a point, day-to-day, is secures anything or makes you feel any better. The next game is the most important. So, we’ve got two big ones coming here, back-to-back, against teams that haven’t done a whole lot of losing and we’ve got to find a way to win.”