I’m a big fan of The Office.
There’s a scene in the office with Kevin Malone, where he starts abbreviating everything he says. Simple reasoning.
“Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick.”
I was thinking about that after post-game media last night.
There are a lot of words you could use to describe a Kings team that is 0-3-2 through five games. But maybe we should take a page from the Kevin Malone playbook, as Trevor Moore did last night.
“It’s just not “f-ing good enough right now.”
Sums things up pretty well, doesn’t it?
It’s just not good enough right now, expletive or no.
Moore and defenseman Brandt Clarke both said bluntly that it’s not good enough right now. Heard it from Scott Laughton before the game, that segments within games are not good enough. Heard it from Adrian Kempe after Saturday’s loss in Vegas. It’s just not good enough. They feel that the effort is there. They feel that the belief within the room is there. They feel it’s smaller lapses and breakdowns within games that are sinking the ship……but at some points, the ship has to come up for air.
I’ll write one paragraph with many words.
The real problem last night was that by the time the Kings got things going, they were 2-0 down. Connor McDavid doesn’t need help beating you. On both goals, McDavid made things happen with ease, without a ton of opposition. There was simply no answer for 97 in white, who had free reign. How he was allowed to build up the head of steam he did on the second goal, man, that’s a tough one to take. The goal happened below the dots. The real breakdown, in my opinion, came long before. Then came a very good shift for the Kings. With 5:15 left in the opening period, the Kings entered the offensive zone. They had Edmonton hemmed in. Lots of possession, good forechecking. A full 60 seconds later was when Edmonton exited via a flip out to center. Harmless enough, right? Except when you get caught in a change and McDavid comes off the bench, gloves down said flip pass, splits the defensemen, goes in on a breakaway and scores. 3-0. If he beats you superhumanly, you tip your cap. When it’s as easy as it was in the first period last night, you’ve got to look inward, as Moore did again.
“It’s on us.”
No deflection. But Moore has drawn that assignment for long enough to know when the team as a whole makes it hard on those players. And he’s a measured voice in the room. That he was as fired up as he was, that he didn’t feel the Kings made those players earn their points, speaks volumes.
From that point on, yeah the Kings controlled the bulk of the game, but when you’re down 3-0, that’s often times the way the gameflow goes. Outside of a Brandt Clarke shot, improved by an Adrian Kempe screen, which frankly still probably should have been saved, the Kings didn’t beat Edmonton netminder Devon Levi. Erik Haula was next closest, when he rang the post in the third period. Beyond that, though, the quantity of shots was there. The control was there. The goals, once again, were not.
Every game has gone differently, which continued last night. There isn’t any one loss that, in a different part of the schedule, is outwardly out of place. All together though, it’s magnified. In looking at the two home games, the Kings scored one goal against Florida when they generated very little 5-on-5. Last night, then Kings posted season highs in shot attempts and shots on goal, but again, they scored just one goal. At all strengths, per Natural Stat Trick, the high-danger chances for were identical to Florida, despite nearly double the shot attempts. 13 high-danger chances on 80 shot attempts.
Here’s two stats.
First, the Kings led 80-37 in shot attempts yesterday, which is the third-largest disparity in a game this season by percentage of attempts controlled (68.4 percent). 80 shot attempts is tied for the seventh most by a team in a game this season. 13 high-danger attempts? Tied for the 70th most in a single game.
Second, the top forward line was on the ice together for 21 shot attempts for, compared to just one against. A staggering disparity. Of those 21 attempts, only nine hit the net. None went in. Among lines with 50 minutes played together this season, Panarin/Byfield/Kempe is the top line in the entire NHL in percentage of shot attempts controlled. Shot attempts per/60, just looking at shot attempts for, they are second best. And yet, they have just one goal 5-on-5, Panarin’s goal in San Jose. They’ll get theirs in time, but you need more production, especially with players out and Edmonton’s big guns finding the scoresheet.
Then again, why use statistic when few word do trick?
“Usually, when you get a lot of shots & not a lot of production, it means you weren’t hungry enough around the net,” Moore said. “We’ve got to get to the goalie’s eyes. He made a lot of saves but a lot of them looked to me like pretty clear shots.”
To be able to include that video, I suppose I should stop writing. The Kings, right now, in their own words, have not been good enough. There will be a little bit of runway to get things moving in the right direction. It’s been five games and I don’t think we’ll see snap decisions off of five games. I think there will be time provided, as the game dispersal becomes more standard, as the opponents soften, as the systems become more comfortable. If it doesn’t uptick though and if things don’t back on track, perhaps what we could see change is the direction itself. See how things play out.