Too many goalies, not enough saves for Kings

Advantage Margin            +58

Whatever problems the Kings had, giving up too many power plays wasn't among them. They surrendered just 309, the second-fewest in the NHL, including a League-low 148 away from home.

Even-Strength Goals Margin        -37

The Kings had nine players who were minus-10 or worse. Only Alexander Frolov (49) had more than 39 even-strength points, and at plus-1, he was the only one of the Kings' top six scorers in the plus column.
   
Special Teams Goal Margin        -4       

Luckily for the Kings they didn't allow many power plays, because they were last in penalty-killing at 78.0 percent. The penalty-killers did score 11 times while shorthanded.

Goals by defensemen            33

Three L.A. defensemen had eight or more goals, but only one (Tom Preissing) is back this season. The Kings hope Drew Doughty, the second pick of the 2008 Entry Draft, will be able to pick up some of the slack for the departed Rob Blake and Lubomir Visnovsky.

Overtime Record         Total: 7-4-3 | OT: 2-4 | SO: 5-3

The Kings were among the best offensive teams in the shootout, scoring on 41.4 percent of their chances. Much of that was due to Patrick O'Sullivan, who was successful on four of his five tries, with three of them being game-deciders.
   
Times Scored First            33, Record    17-11-5

The Kings had the dubious daily double of scoring the first goal the fewest times in the League (tied with Anaheim) and posting the lowest winning percentage when they did score first (.515).       

Best 2007-08 Number         12-5-0

The Kings' record on Thursdays, by far their best day of the week. Thursday was the only day in which the Kings were over .500, and they had more than one-third of their points on Thursdays.       

Worst 2007-08 Number          7

Goaltenders used by the Kings, by far the most of any team -- no one else used more than four. It didn't help -- the Kings were No. 28 in goals-against average.

Scheduling

The Kings and their fans will have plenty of chances to get acquainted early in the season. After opening in San Jose, they have four home games, a two-day trip to St. Louis and Nashville, then eight more at home. The bad news -- they have three long road trips after mid-January and play 10 of their last 13 games away from Staples Center.

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