The LA Kings were back in Newark this afternoon, as they hit the ice for practice at the Prudential Center, in advance of tomorrow\u2019s matchup against the New York Rangers.<\/p>\n
The Kings had 13 shots on goal last night.<\/p>\n
The last time the Kings had fewer shots on goal was November 21, 2002. <\/p>\n
Of those 13, nine came at 5-on-5. <\/p>\n
The last time the Kings had fewer shots on goal, 5-on-5, was October 27, 2008. <\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t exactly a crazy piece of analysis here, but the stories about the last couple of wins, with what went well against Washington and New York, kind of spelled out why the Kings lost against the Devils. In those first two games, the first line was on the ice for multiple goals for. Artemi Panarin scored three times. Adrian Kempe scored twice. Alex Laferriere had three assists. All three had points in both wins. Against New Jersey, that line didn\u2019t get one, though Kempe did have the assist on the only goal they did score.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t say that to malign the first line. Even in a scoreless night, they looked dangerous at times. I say it because outside of that line, the Kings just aren\u2019t consistently getting enough offensive possession or chances, which has led to the lack of scoring. It\u2019s just not sustainable to rely on multiple goals every night from one line. <\/p>\n
The one goal they did get yesterday came from Scott Laughton, who snapped a six-game drought for the second, third and fourth lines in the 5-on-5 scoring department, with a goaltender in the net, that is. Laughton\u2019s goal was his second in three games on the trip, though the first came against the empty net in Washington. Outside of him, though, it just hasn\u2019t gone in for those lines. <\/p>\n
It begs a simple question to me, which is what I asked Peter Laviolette earlier today. <\/p>\n
When you have one line that is gelling and producing, but three that haven\u2019t on a consistent basis, how does he see the balance between not fixing what isn\u2019t broken and the need to fix what is? The Panarin\/Laferriere\/Kempe line has been good but does splitting up say Panarin and Kempe \u2013 theoretically \u2013 potentially help the group produce more overall? I don\u2019t know if it does or not. There\u2019s probably not a clear answer, but here is Laviolette\u2019s thought process \u2013<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I mean, you\u2019re right and there\u2019s a couple pieces that are out of the lineup that could help move things around as well, and so that makes it a little bit more challenging. It\u2019s good sign to see Quinton out there today, practicing with the team, so that\u2019s a boost right there. He\u2019s a he\u2019s a big player for us. Hopefully, he continues to make improvements. I think that last night, there was not as much offense as we had in the in the Islanders game and that team does a good job of creating, they\u2019re a top team at generating offense. There were times, especially again in the second period, where we had to be better. For me, if we\u2019re playing defense, we\u2019re not playing offense. We\u2019ve got to find a way to get it behind them, stay in the offensive zone and generate. I believe that the other lines can generate and even Panarin\u2019s line last night with Kempe and Laf, I feel like they could have generated a little bit. I don\u2019t feel like we put enough at their net, with regard to quantity, with regard to quality and so, therefore, it\u2019s a group effort. Do we need contribution from the top line? We do, but we need contributions from others as well. We need to get people healthy back in the lineup and all those things, I feel, can boost the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
FWIW, I appreciated the detail in which he answered the question. There are a lot of layers to it, some that I think cross over into other areas that need to be addressed. For today, it did not seem like there were any drastic changes, which I think is what you\u2019d infer from his answer had you not watched practice. It\u2019s also easy to bring up that the Kings need more production, but if your question is, are the pieces here capable of more production than they have been, Laviolette feels they are, as he stated in his answer. As such, here\u2019s how the team aligned during today\u2019s skate \u2013<\/p>\n
Panarin \u2013 Laferriere \u2013 Kempe
Moore \u2013 Haula \u2013 Zuccarello
Armia \u2013 Laughton \u2013 Ward
Lee \u2013 Helenius \u2013 Perry \u2013 Wright
Byfield<\/p>\n
Gustafsson \u2013 Clarke
Edmundson \u2013 Doughty
Anderson \u2013 Dumoulin
Ceci<\/p>\n
Kuemper \/ Forsberg<\/p>\n
One reason in the column of not breaking that line up is that forward Quinton Byfield was back on the ice today, however it was in a non-contact jersey for most of the practice. <\/p>\n
The line of Moore, Byfield and Zuccarello is what was envisioned when the Kings moved Laferriere up, but they only played a handful of shifts before Byfield\u2019s injury in Washington. If he\u2019s back, I believe that\u2019s the line the Kings want to see together right now to function as a second scoring line. If Byfield is out, there\u2019s only so much you can do. When he did mix in, Byfield was on that second line. I think that Haula is the guy who the Kings feel they can move around and that\u2019s been his role early, seeing time with different players, on different lines, at different positions. <\/p>\n
As Laviolette detailed in his above answer, Byfield\u2019s presence was encouraging. He didn\u2019t take the first runthrough on line rushes, but he did take repetitions with the top power-play unit and he also did work on some contact situations in more of a controlled setting, which was also encouraging. What I mean by that is the contact came from a coach, not in the heat of a drill with his teammates. Controlled. So, while he was in the red, he was tested as well, which feels like a good sign. <\/p>\n
Unsure if Byfield is an option for tomorrow\u2019s game or not. If not, it seems like we\u2019ll see the big line stay together and then see the pieces shuffle a little bit from there, with forward Taylor Ward potentially an option to check in, as he skated with line three today. <\/p>\n
Changes or no, everyone agrees that there isn\u2019t enough going, so that falls on those involved to produce, both in the chances they are getting and by getting more chances than they have. <\/p>\n
Forward Trevor Moore, a 30-goal scorer in the NHL, has just one goal in nine games and it was a shorthanded tally. He took ownership last night for the full group, saying that beyond that top line, it starts with him to lead the way with scoring in other areas. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been all year. It starts with me. I\u2019ve got to figure out a way to put the puck in the net. We need more offense from more guys. It starts with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t just about Moore, though. He\u2019s a veteran player and a leader who is shouldering it, which I respect He might atop that group of players who the Kings need more production from, so I get why he put it that way, but it\u2019s a group, not just him. When you take Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield out of the lineup, the way the pieces slot into place creates a situation where a lot of guys need outproduce the roles they were originally expected to fill, because the roles they are actually filling come with different expectations. <\/p>\n
Take Moore for example. It\u2019s not that Moore hasn\u2019t shown he is more than capable of scoring at a second-line clip in his career. There\u2019s an easy world to see where he plays on the second line for this team, even at full strength, as he did in past seasons. But when you\u2019re missing two main cogs of the top-six, it puts way more onus on the guys who are left. That\u2019s Moore and forward Mats Zuccarello.<\/p>\n
Zuccarello, who was just shy of a point-per-game last season, felt similarly to Moore on that front. He took ownership of on himself and the players to deliver more. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play better,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone is working hard, but we\u2019re not getting the offense that we\u2019re wishing that we\u2019d get. That\u2019s on us, who are supposed to provide that with some scoring. It\u2019s just not been there offensively, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the blueline, the Kings have four goals in nine games. One was Erik Gustafsson\u2019s power-play goal, another was Brandt Clarke\u2019s goal playing 3-on-3. Two goals \u2013 Brian Dumoulin\u2019s in Colorado and Clarke\u2019s against Edmonton \u2013 have come 5-on-5.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s naturally more of a job for the forwards to score goals, the defensemen have to contribute as well. Team captain Drew Doughty had maybe the best chance of the first period and led all Kings skaters \u2013 comfortably \u2013 with nine shot attempts in Newark. He could\u2019ve been the one to get things going and didn\u2019t. From there, there were just too many stretches of the Kings defending on their heels, which is limiting the overall number of looks. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play in the offensive zone more, we have these stretches of being dominated in our d-zone and we need to fix it,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cI had some chances last night and I didn\u2019t score. I\u2019ve got to put them in, that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming from a number of directions, all leading to the same conclusion. Doesn\u2019t feel like there are any big personnel shakeups coming in terms of a player joining the roster, so the Kings have to figure it out with the pieces in place. Byfield\u2019s return would certainly help, but that\u2019s far from confirmed. <\/p>\n
Morning skate tomorrow from MSG, before the Kings visit the Rangers. Have notes on the power play and the second periods as well, which are two additional areas of concern. Then it\u2019s off to Chicago for the season\u2019s first back-to-back, before coming home for a seven-game homestand. For all that has not felt right, the Kings are 2-1-0, with a chance to make this a good trip. The Rangers have not yet lost on home ice this season, so a big challenge ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The LA Kings were back in Newark this afternoon, as they hit the ice for practice at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-895096","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\/895096","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=895096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}