After 18 days away, the Los Angeles Kings got reacquainted with the creature comforts of home. Who knew that an appliance would look so appealing?
As the Kings finished off a season-opening sojourn thousands of miles away in Montreal, Vladislav Gavrikov was asked about the toughest thing about a road trip that began with two exhibition games in Quebec City and wound its way through Buffalo, Boston, Ottawa and Toronto.
“To wash the clothes,” Gavrikov said Thursday night after a 4-1 win over the host Canadiens. “If you’re going through the hotel, it’s expensive.”
It was an unusual one for the Kings, as the defenseman pointed out. Ongoing renovations at Crypto.com Arena necessitated a rare extended stay in the Eastern time zone to start the year, and while they returned to Southern California early Friday morning, the Kings won’t be in their home building until Thursday, when they face San Jose. Road games at Anaheim on Sunday and Vegas on Tuesday await.
But they salvaged a trip that took a bad detour. There are different ways to look at their 2-1-2 record. Points gained in four of the five road games is good. Allowing 14 goals in back-to-back losses to the Senators and Maple Leafs is bad. Wins over the Sabres and Canadiens are what you need when you’ve been a playoff team for three straight seasons. Dramatic swings in play are what you want to avoid.
Jim Hiller threw his forward lines and defense pairings into a blender after the loss to Toronto, and it worked against Montreal. It was a clear sign that this Kings coach will have a more proactive bent when it comes to making changes, rather than letting ineffective combos work themselves out in the search for quality play from night to night to night.
Let’s look at what has gone right for the Kings and what has gone awry after the first week of action.
Three things that are working
Gavrikov takes the lead on defense
As much as it must be a collective effort to compensate for someone as incomparable as Drew Doughty, it helps to have someone on the blue line step forward and show he can do extra. Gavrikov is taking that task on, having played between 22:26 and 25:48 over the first four games before logging a team-high 28:00 against Montreal. And he isn’t struggling with the increased workload.
Gavrikov got his first two points against the Canadiens and has been their leading performer on the penalty kill. Hiller took to playing him on the right side of Mikey Anderson — in Doughty’s spot — on the top pair in Montreal. Per Evolving-Hockey, the 28-year-old has a team-leading 60.40 CF% and a terrific 1.31 expected goals against per 60 minutes of five-on-five play. Gavrikov isn’t going to turn into an offensive force on the blue line, but he’s off to an outstanding start in every other area.
The Alexes are getting things done
While consistency has been elusive in the Kings’ uneven start, Alex Turcotte has been the picture of it in the early going. It is an encouraging sign, given the injury issues he’s had to get past. Turcotte has a three-game point streak and is routinely making the right play when he’s on the ice. Hiller rewarded the center with a move up to the third line Wednesday. He’s getting sheltered a bit with a lot of offensive-zone starts, but he has also shown deserving of more ice time.
After starting out on the top line with Anže Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere saw his playing time took a small hit due to all the lineup juggling in Montreal, but he still contributed a goal that pulled him into a tie with Kopitar and Kevin Fiala for the team lead with three. Shooting percentages will level off as more of the season goes by, but the 22-year-old has a team-leading 28 shot attempts. It’s a promising start for a young winger who tallied 12 times as a rookie last season.
Clarke is holding his own defensively
Offensive ability has never been a question for Brandt Clarke. The 21-year-old defenseman looks as though he’s grabbed Doughty’s spot on the top power-play unit, and he had three of his four assists with the man advantage in Ottawa. To become more than a man-advantage specialist, Clarke must be trusted to defend consistently at even strength. The early results show that he’s holding up OK within his end of the ice.
Clarke has been on the ice for two goals against while averaging 13:30 in five-on-five play. When looking at advanced metrics such as actual and expected goals for and against per 60 minutes, his numbers are skewed toward the positive. It must be factored in that approximately two-thirds of his five-on-five shifts are offensive-zone starts. His rover ways can make watching him an adventure at times, but it also creates extra offensive chances that other defensemen can’t or won’t do. He’s not hurting them on defense.
Three things that aren’t working
Ditching the 1-3-1 has been an adjustment
Late last season and in the playoffs, Hiller started to move the Kings away from the 1-3-1 neutral-zone trap that they diligently played for years under former coach Todd McLellan. The switch took permanent root as Kings players — particularly their best offensive talents — were eager to shift into a more open system, in which they wouldn’t be as stationary in the neutral zone and would create more in transition. But the flip side of going to a 1-2-2 was the potential of exposing their goalies to more scoring chances.
That’s been apparent so far. Natural Stat Trick has the Kings allowing 102 scoring chances, including 37 high-danger chances, compared to 85 and 22, respectively, after five games last season. Thursday’s 4-1 win at Montreal was their best game, as they were far better in defending the neutral zone and limiting rush chances. There could be more bumpy moments to work through as they find the right combos and pairings. Adapting without Doughty on the back end doesn’t make the task any easier.
Breaking up the BFF Line wasn’t hard
The Kings started the season with Quinton Byfield centering Fiala and Warren Foegele, with the potential of a second scoring line in mind. They were together from the outset of training camp. By the fourth game in Toronto, Hiller had pulled Foegele from that grouping and moved up Trevor Lewis from the fourth line. By the fifth game in Montreal, Byfield was back on left wing with Kopitar and Kempe, among the many changes Hiller made. Fiala was playing with Trevor Moore and Phillip Danault.
The trio of Fiala-Byfield-Foegele wasn’t particularly bad, but the trio also didn’t generate a goal in five-on-five play and was scored on twice. What’s worse is that they didn’t consistently drive play. Hiller said Turcotte’s fine play necessitated moving Byfield back to the wing and reuniting him with familiar linemates. “It’s nothing to do with how Quinton was playing center,” he said. “Quinton’s a centerman all day long. He’ll have a long career at center. But as it stands today at least with Turc playing so well, we thought we’d put that line back together. I thought they played well.”
Penalties creating a short-handed strain
The Kings haven’t been known for being wildly undisciplined, but they’ve regular occupants of the penalty box. Their 25 times short-handed over the first five contests tied them with Boston for the most in the league. And while the penalty kill was perfect against Buffalo, Boston and Montreal, it took a major hit when Ottawa scored four power-play goals in six tries, and Toronto scored twice in four chances.
There are typically more whistles in the early weeks of each season, as NHL officials try to enforce a (usually) tighter standard. Clarke’s been a guilty party with a team-high five minors taken, while Anderson has been nabbed for three. The Kings are trying to be more aggressive with their penalty kill setup, and that could see Kempe get loose with Kopitar or Moore break free for short-handed scoring opportunities. But they also can’t spend a bunch of time each night in chase mode beyond forechecking.
(Photo of Alex Laferriere: Chris Tanouye / Freestyle Photography / Getty Images)
