The LA Kings rank 24th in in the NHL scoring this season at 5-on-5. <\/p>\n
2.10 goals per\/60. <\/p>\n
There are a couple of surprising teams that rank below them, mainly the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers, but when you rank 24th, there isn\u2019t all that much room below. <\/p>\n
Taking things back to last season, the Kings ranked eighth in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals per\/60. Their actual and expected metrics were nearly identical in that time. As we\u2019re seeing pretty clearly, though, last season is last season. Back in training camp, I thought that returning an identical Top-9 from a season ago could be perhaps the biggest strength of the 2025-26 LA Kings team. <\/p>\n
As has often been noted, the Kings ranked second in the league in goals per\/60 after the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline. In returning three lines that thrived down the stretch, while improving the team around the margins, with a stronger fourth line, the depth up front, on paper, looked to be something that could really drive the team offensively.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting is that the players added to the group have actually worked out better than they could have been intended. Corey Perry is tied for the team-lead with six goals this season. Joel Armia is tied for fifth with seven points. <\/p>\n
Those are good things. But it kind of showcases the problem, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Perry and Armia were good signings, brought in to improve the team\u2019s depth up front. That both are in the Top-5 in scoring, with nine and seven points respectively, means that things have not gone according to plan elsewhere. Perry and Armia weren\u2019t brought in to supplant and outscore the players in the Top-9, they were brought into to support that group. Yet, here they are, exceeding the production of several players slotted above them. It\u2019s great they\u2019re producing. But it\u2019s a problem that others aren\u2019t. <\/p>\n
When you break the production down into 5-on-5 scoring, the issue actually becomes more glaring. The list of players who are producing as they\u2019re capable of is shorter than the alternative. Perry and Armia are first and third on the Kings in 5-on-5 points per\/60, with forward Adrian Kempe sandwiched in between. Even without the per\/60 designation, Armia is second behind Kempe in 5-on-5 points while Perry is tied for third, despite missing the first six games of the season. Alex Laferriere is the only other forward with at least five points 5-on-5 so far this season. <\/p>\n
The Kings are simply not getting enough 5-on-5 production offensively. The power play has been well documented and we\u2019ll get to that. But winning the 5-on-5 game has always been the bread and butter of this team. It\u2019s the way that depth can overcome star power, it\u2019s how you can use three good lines to beat one or two great ones. That just hasn\u2019t happened and it\u2019s an area of concern.<\/p>\n
Pretty well-documented now that the Kings have only gotten three goals this season from their four current centers. Jim Hiller hopes that Anze Kopitar\u2019s first of the season on Thursday can get him going. Got to the net, got a greasy one. Quinton Byfield is second on the team with 10 assists, but has just two goals. Phillip Danault has yet to find the back of the net. He didn\u2019t shy away from that today, understanding he\u2019s been in a drought before, knowing he has to continue to push through it, without dwelling on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying hard, keeping it simple, just doing my little details,\u201d Danault said. \u201cI\u2019ve been there before and obviously it\u2019s not something that\u2019s fun. You want to get out of it as quickly as possible, but the quicker you want to get out of it, the longer it will take. Just trying to focus day-by-day, shift-by-shift and when it comes, it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Kings need more goals from those players, but that\u2019s far from the complete picture. This article isn\u2019t to talk about a player, a position or a line. It\u2019s about a team. <\/p>\n
The Kings have four goals 5-on-5 from Kevin Fiala, while Kempe and Perry each have three. Everyone else has two or fewer. <\/p>\n
Hiller said after the Florida game on Thursday that he believes the issue lies with getting to the net. He said it several times. When you\u2019re not scoring, you get yourself to the net as much as possible and try to find dirtier goals. <\/p>\n
I both agree and disagree with the assessment. <\/p>\n
I agree entirely with the principle. It\u2019s not the flashy, highlight reels goals that\u2019ll get you going offensively. It\u2019s the rebounds, the second and third opportunities, the chances generated from forechecking, getting pucks into dangerous areas and crashing the heck out of the net. Drew Doughty said it after the win in San Jose in late-October. Kopitar said it last week after the New Jersey game that he doesn\u2019t feel the Kings are doing a good enough job of it. Trevor Moore said it after the loss to Florida. Hiller has said it now several times now and reinforced that point this morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenerally, we\u2019ve just got to get to the netfront and create those second opportunities, that\u2019s where we\u2019re failing, is with some of the second opportunities,\u201d Hiller said after today\u2019s practice in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re all correct, but that\u2019s only half the battle. You\u2019ve gotta finish too.<\/p>\n
In comparing the season to date against last season, per Natural Stat Trick, the Kings are averaging 11.66 high-danger chances, per\/60, through 15 games. What was that number over 82 games during the 2024-25 season? 11.66.<\/p>\n
Yupp, that\u2019s identical. <\/p>\n
Hiller said that by internal metrics, the Kings are actually pacing slightly ahead of last season in terms of generating high-danger chances.<\/p>\n
Where the disparity lies is in the actual goals scored.<\/p>\n
The Kings last season ranked sixth in the league in high-danger shooting percentage (20.49%) and seventh in high-danger goals per\/60 (1.37). This season, those numbers are both lower, ranking 18th in high-danger goals per\/60 (1.17) and 22nd in shooting percentage in those areas (15.05).<\/p>\n
Some of that will regress to the mean, with the Kings ranking 27th in the NHL in PDO, which is the de-facto indicator of luck. I think you make your own luck, though. So, it\u2019s can\u2019t just be a \u201cwell, it\u2019ll default towards the median\u201d approach. It\u2019ll default towards the median as the Kings make changes and improvements. <\/p>\n
So what are they doing to improve in that area?<\/p>\n
It was the point focal point of today\u2019s practice day in Pittsburgh, with Hiller and the coaching staff running drills that emphasized scoring situations. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did quite a few things around that,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cWe scored a lot of goals in practice today but it was designed with that intent, lots of 2-on-1\u2019s, lots of 3-on-2\u2019s. Not much as far as the structure of the game, a lot more about getting around there and scoring goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very easy to say these things and much harder to do them. It\u2019s not fun to go to the net. When you talk about how well Perry has played for the Kings this season, a lot of his success has come from that area of the ice and he sometimes takes a beating for the privlidge. It\u2019s no secret how good he\u2019s been throughout his career from the front of the net. It\u2019s no secret that the Kings as a group can learn from where he\u2019s done so much of his damage for 20 years. <\/p>\n
Today\u2019s practice was a good step in that direction. There were targeted drills towards getting to the net, attacking the net off the rush and, most importantly, finishing at the net. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday was good, good pace, good energy, more drills where we could score goals,\u201d Danault added. \u201cWe had to work for it still, 3-on-2\u2019s, 2-on-1\u2019s things like that. We definitely have to score more goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus on the odd-man rushes was a good decision.<\/p>\n
Per SportLOGIQ, the Kings are tied for fourth in the NHL in total odd-man rushes this season. They just haven\u2019t turned rushes into enough goals and they\u2019re not generating a ton of looks when it\u2019s not an odd-man rush, ranking 30th in scoring chances off of carry-ins to the offensive zone, per SportLOGIQ. Once established in zone, the Kings are finding rebounds and keeping plays alive, even if thus far, that isn\u2019t translating into goals. They\u2019re fifth in the NHL in successful loose-puck recoveries on shot rebounds. But again, it\u2019s not going in. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of numbers here and I omitted so many more. It ultimately just kind of spins in circles. The TLDR, what I make of the data I\u2019ve looked at, is that the Kings are generating chances at a reasonable enough clip. That\u2019s good, even better than good compared around the NHL. They\u2019re prioritizing getting the puck into the slot and they\u2019re hitting the net regularly from that area. But they are not scoring regularly enough from that area. <\/p>\n
Practice will help. <\/p>\n
The return of Warren Foegele \u2013 who led the Kings in individual high-danger chances last season \u2013 will help. <\/p>\n
\u201cScoring goals is going to the net,\u201d Foegele said. \u201cYou see Perrs do it almost every night and he\u2019s scoring goals. You have to get the puck there too, you can\u2019t just have bodies. It goes together.\u201d<\/p>\n
A bit of puck luck will help too. <\/p>\n
But ultimately, it comes down to the individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody feels more pressure to score goals than the players,\u201d Hiller added. \u201cThe coach puts pressure on them, the media puts pressure on them, the player is the guy out there battling and trying to score goals. Most of us, anytime you put too much pressure on yourself\u2026\u2026it\u2019s a fine balance. Get to the front of the net, believe in yourself, know that you\u2019ve done it for a long time and it\u2019ll go. We\u2019ve gone through stretches like this since I\u2019ve been here with this team at different times. This is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes, it just takes a game to get through it. The worst of those stretches was last January and it was Fiala who pulled the Kings out of it in Carolina with a couple goals in a big road win. Who is going to step up tomorrow and do the same thing?<\/p>\n
As the Kings begin a five-game road trip with a record of 6-5-4 it\u2019s an area of importance for this group. Last season, the Kings scored more than enough at 5-on-5 to keep things going when the power play was one of the league\u2019s worst. Time to get back to that identity beginning with this trip. <\/p>\n
Tomorrow, will take a deeper dive into Foegele\u2019s comeback to the lineup. Foegele is expected to play tomorrow against Pittsburgh, his first game since he went out with an upper-body injury last month in Chicago, and he\u2019s set to skate with Alex Turcotte and Corey Perry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The LA Kings rank 24th in in the NHL scoring this season at 5-on-5. 2.10 goals per\/60. There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-281000","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\/281000","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=281000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}