\u201cEverybody knows we\u2019re going to get wins, we\u2019re going to be better at the start of games and all that kind of stuff. That\u2019s the days, weeks, months coming up that we validate it. If we keep doing our things, we\u2019re going to start getting wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was forward Adrian Kempe, speaking after yesterday\u2019s 4-3 overtime defeat against Carolina. <\/p>\n
The Kings are not a 1-3-2 team over 82 games. It\u2019ll get better, certainly. I believe in what Kempe said. In time, the Kings will be fine. But right now, the record is what the record is. Right now, it\u2019s not there in terms of winning hockey games. Right now, the Kings are a 1-3-2 team. And that isn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n
The Kings have done a lot of things well. Really well at times. When they\u2019re playing their game, it\u2019s been apparent to me how this team can be successful. What has yet to happen, however, is seeing those things for 60 minutes. Hasn\u2019t happened yet. <\/p>\n
I thought this morning of a quote from The Mighty Ducks. Where Gordon Bombay is talking about how if his shot was a quarter of an inch to the left, it would\u2019ve gone in. Then, Charlie Conway says yeah, but if it was a quarter of an inch the other way he\u2019d have missed completely.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kempe added that if the Kings won the two overtime games they lost \u2013 Minnesota and Carolina \u2013 we\u2019d be sitting here with a different conversation. And he\u2019s correct, of course. But that\u2019s only thinking about a quarter of an inch one way. A quarter of an inch the other way\u2026\u2026yeah. That\u2019s an ugly thought. Right now, the Kings are a team without a regulation win, with five defeats from six games played. There have been a lot of could\u2019ve\u2019s and should\u2019ve\u2019s, but could\u2019ve\u2019s and should\u2019ve\u2019s don\u2019t count for any points.<\/p>\n
If you look at the could\u2019ve\u2019s and should\u2019ve\u2019s, a quarter of an inch one way versus the other, it\u2019s not hard to see how 1-3-2 could be, what, 4-2-0? A 4-on-3 power-play goal in Minnesota, closing the game out against Pittsburgh and last night\u2019s overtime. Could be. Those were all games that the Kings had an opportunity to win. Even Winnipeg was a winnable game the Kings led in midway through. <\/p>\n
Could also be 0-6-0, though, if you take away two three-goal comebacks to force overtime and a two-goal comeback versus Vegas. Without those comebacks, the Kings could be last in the NHL. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the quarter of an inch. The could\u2019ve\u2019s and should\u2019ve\u2019s. Could write 2,000 words about those. But ultimately, we have to look at what has happened, not what could\u2019ve happened or should\u2019ve happened. <\/p>\n
I feel like at times, as these games go by, I\u2019m reading the same story. Yeah, the characters are different, the setting is in a different time period, maybe it\u2019s a different genre. But the plot has been very, very similar. <\/p>\n
On the recent two-game homestand, what happened was a story that was different, yet sort of the same. <\/p>\n
Against Pittsburgh, the start was gangbusters. A 2-0 lead should\u2019ve been more. Should\u2019ve. But it wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n
The goals against in that game were killers. A power-play goal and a shorthanded goal changed the game. A couple stoppable shots. A couple small breakdowns. What could\u2019ve been, perhaps should\u2019ve been a win at home turned into a loss that got away. Could\u2019ve and should\u2019ve. It was a loss. <\/p>\n
Yesterday, the start was unacceptable. A goal against on the game\u2019s first shift and another inside four minutes into the game. Both goals came on blown coverages in front of the net, in the slot, the most dangerous area on the ice. The Kings deserve credit for coming back. They do. Against that team, when you\u2019re down 3-0, getting a point feels almost inconceivable. When they started ramping things up, we saw a lot of encouraging things. But, for all of the good that went into the comeback, it was necessitated by a start to a game that just can\u2019t happen. Again, a loss. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the could\u2019ve\u2019s and should\u2019ve\u2019s right now that are overshadowing the good things the Kings have done. And, it\u2019s the differences in games that is making this a trickier analysis. If you want to say the starts, well that was only the problem against Winnipeg and Carolina. Every other game, the starts have been fine. If you want to point to playing with leads or not extending leads, well you\u2019d be right against Vegas and Pittsburgh, but wasn\u2019t the case elsewhere. It\u2019s not the same thing every night and the reasons for the losses are not larger-scale problems. They\u2019re things that will get corrected and eventually, we\u2019ll see come together at the same time. It just hasn\u2019t happened thus far. <\/p>\n
If the Kings were going out and getting throttled night in and night out, this would be easy. The team just isn\u2019t any good. That\u2019s not the case here. You take stretches of these games and say okay, there\u2019s something here. But right now, even if you look at a positive stretch of 50 minutes, it\u2019s the other 10 that are deciding these games. The tide will turn and so will the results. However, the NHL isn\u2019t a league that waits for you. In the NHL, every point counts the same whether it\u2019s October or April. It\u2019s not a development league. The Kings aren\u2019t be a development team. But right now, they have not developed 60-minute performances and in turn, they haven\u2019t gotten early-season results. <\/p>\n
For a team that considered itself to be improved from the 105-point team that finished second in the Pacific Division last season, five defeats from six to begin the season is below the expectations that have been said. And that needs to change. Expectations set are not the fault of the players or the coaching staff. They were not the ones who set those expectations. Those came from above. But those expectations are the world we\u2019re living in and while six games only represents seven percent of an 82-game season, when expectations were set a certain way, even seven percent of the season will feel like a lot more than it really is. That\u2019s how it feels right now, even if it\u2019s not as bad as it feels. <\/p>\n
The Kings now hit the road for five games, but it\u2019s the first two that are really worth looking at here. They\u2019ve lost three straight in St. Louis and six straight in Dallas. Some games with a point in there, for sure, but right now, points are the focus, not point. And this trip presents a real challenge in getting things back on track. There\u2019s been more than enough shown to suggest that it gets done. But even with good stretches of play, teams with expectations have to get results. When they don\u2019t, it leads to change. This trip represents the opportunity for that change and those results to come from within. To get that quarter of an inch moving in the right direction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEverybody knows we\u2019re going to get wins, we\u2019re going to be better at the start of games and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-237153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}