With five straight victories, the Los Angeles Kings have the current longest winning streak in the NHL.
That’s right, the Kings. Those alleged tenants of the Mushy Middle. They are the league’s hottest team. Not the Minnesota Wild, the current co-league leader in points and points percentage, whom the Kings just dispatched for the second time in two meetings. Not the Winnipeg Jets, the early-season darlings whose lopsided loss in Los Angeles sent them into a 2-5-0 spiral. Not the Dallas Stars, a preseason Stanley Cup favorite that lost in L.A. last week.
Dare we say, the Kings are … good? They are 16-8-3, tied for the fifth-best points percentage in the league.
“We’re a solid team,” coach Jim Hiller said Saturday following the Kings’ 4-1 thumping of the Wild. “We’re a really solid team, you know what I mean? I don’t get too far ahead of myself. And when I say that, that’s a real compliment to our players. Solid. Top to bottom. We have a lot of players who’ve come in and helped.”
A third consecutive first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers dimmed hope for anything more than that from an increasingly perturbed fanbase. General manager Rob Blake and team president Luc Robitaille acknowledged the increased heat on them as they exited a lengthy rebuild. And now, Blake’s major offseason moves have contributed to the Kings’ success.
Blake’s trade of Pierre-Luc Dubois after one shoddy season allowed him to pull himself out of the quicksand he walked into. Yes, Quinton Byfield’s offensive production is in hiding again after he became a $6 million center. But the offseason additions have worked. Warren Foegele has so far been a tremendous fit, Joel Edmundson has been better than anticipated and Tanner Jeannot is starting to find his place and make a positive impact. While goalie Darcy Kuemper has gone on the injured list twice, he has been more good than bad when he’s played.
The Kings also have yet to get a minute out of top defenseman Drew Doughty, who suffered a broken ankle in his first preseason game.
Yes, it can be said that the Wild were finishing a back-to-back set in that game, and that the Kings took advantage of an otherwise light week in their schedule. And, outside of two losses in San Jose, the Kings mostly benefitted from a schedule heavy on the league’s lesser and middling clubs.
But they’re now starting to stack quality wins. Another big challenge begins Tuesday, when the Kings start their second seven-game road trip of the season at the New York Islanders.
Last year, the Kings were 20-7-4 before going on a midseason tailspin that got veteran coach Todd McLellan fired and gave Hiller his first NHL head coaching opportunity. Are things different this season? What’s been behind this first-half push they’ve made?
Stellar defensive play without Doughty
The Kings have allowed only 22 goals in their 16 victories. They allowed three goals in only one of those games. That’s part of the reason they are tied for third in the NHL for fewest goals per game allowed. And while it’s a collective effort between forwards and defensemen, their league-low 24.3 shots on goal allowed shows how they’ve adapted well as they changed from a 1-3-1 neutral-zone trap to a 1-2-2 system.
“It’s just a willingness to check,” Hiller said. “It’s a willingness to make that a priority up and down the lineup. Every player. It’s a real commitment. It’s taking the extra step back on a backcheck. It’s blocking a shot. It’s understanding (that) maybe I’m late in a shift, I’m just going to put the puck in rather than taking somebody on one-on-one. So, there’s all these different things that add up to that. Like I said, it’s not one (player) or two or three or four. That takes everybody.”
While assistant coach D.J. Smith has moved around personnel and pairings on the back end, Edmundson largely has been an effective partner for offensive-minded rookie Brandt Clarke. Jordan Spence has capably handled the No. 5 defenseman role and Jacob Moverare has been solid again as a call-up. No pair has been better than Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov.
In five-on-five play, Anderson and Gavrikov have been on the ice for just eight goals against. Evolving-Hockey charts the pair with just 1.66 expected goals against per 60 minutes. The two are a combined plus-24 at even strength. (Gavrikov’s plus-14 ties Adrian Kempe for the team lead.) Gavrikov, in particular, has been outstanding on the right side in Doughty’s usual spot.
“They do such a good job in front of the net,” Kuemper said. “When they’re out there, you feel like you’re seeing every shot. They’re very predictable out there. I think part of that’s just they got chemistry together. They know where each other is going to be and then they just seem to always be in the right spot and having great sticks. I always enjoy when they’re out there.”
Goalies are getting the job done
Seventeen teams have a better team save percentage than the Kings’ .893. Ultimately, the combination of timely saves and the low shots against is a winning one. The Kings have given up only seven goals in this winning streak. Three goalies have gotten the job done over the five games.
David Rittich won three of them as he boosted his record to 10-6-0. Rittich’s 2.45 goals-against average is strong, but he’s also benefitted from a team-wide commitment to defending. But the 32-year-old was “Big Save Dave” against Dallas, making crucial saves and giving a 26-stop outing Hiller called his best as the Kings rallied for a 3-2 triumph.
“He’s just done a great job while Kuemps has been out,” Hiller said. “Carrying the load because he’s played in all but one.”
Erik Portillo stepped in for his NHL debut and lifted his outplayed teammates to a 2-1 win at Anaheim as he made 28 saves. Their work allowed Kuemper, who called Rittich’s work “incredible” during his absence, to return Saturday with a sharp 22-save effort against Minnesota.
“It’s been a tough start in that sense.” Kuemper said of his separate lower-body issues. “Some bad luck on the injury side of things. It’s not fun watching but I’ve really, really enjoyed my time working with (goalie coach Mike Buckley). Whenever I’m in there, I feel like my game’s in a really good place. Hopefully the bad luck’s behind me and just get on a roll now.”
It isn’t just Kopitar and Kempe carrying the load
The fact that Kopitar, 37, opened the season with a hat trick and hasn’t gone more than two games without a point is astounding. Maybe he’ll slow down at some point – Saturday was his 1,400th career game and it came with former coach Darryl Sutter and Kings principal owner Philip Anschutz in attendance – but he’s on a 94-point pace. Kempe also hasn’t had more than two scoreless games in a row, and he has 14 points in his last 12 contests since his last back-to-back zeroes on the scoresheet.
But the Kings are getting contributions from other sources, despite Kevin Fiala being average for his usual offensive standards, Byfield and Phillip Danault having only five goals between them and last year’s 31-goal scorer, Trevor Moore, tallying only three times until three empty-net goals in wins over Ottawa and Minnesota. Alex Laferriere is this year’s breakout performer with 12 goals, to equal what he did in 81 games as a rookie. He’s had goals against Anaheim, Ottawa and Minnesota during the streak.
“At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t necessarily used to playing power play a lot with those guys,” said Laferriere, whose blur of a wrist shot from the left circle Saturday was his second goal on the man advantage. “I think I settled in a lot there. Trusting myself and knowing that I was out there for a reason. Yeah, now I think it’s just playing my game and not kind of passing up opportunities.”
Meanwhile, Foegele has been the energetic presence up and down the lineup that the Kings hoped for when they signed him to a three-year free-agent deal. He’s got seven goals and 13 points but it’s his nonstop motor and forechecking prowess that has been his defining trait.
“He’s a really hard worker,” said Jeannot, who’s now on a line with Foegele and Byfield. “He’s really fast. He’s good with the puck. You know exactly what you’re going to get from him on the ice. He’s continued to show it throughout this whole year. Playing with him, he’s shown it night in and night out. He’s definitely a great asset to this team and really valuable.”
(Photo of Alex Laferriere: Ryan Sun / Imagn Images)
