Confident Kings face season-defining road trip

NEWARK, N.J. -- This is the regular season and that was the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Los Angeles Kings have to re-create or at least re-enact how they played with zero room for error in winning the Stanley Cup last season if they're going to have a chance to defend it this season.

They expect they will be able to do it. Confidence remains high even though consistency has been lacking.

"We know we can do it," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "We're confident that we will do it. There's no hope involved in that."

The Kings head into their game Tuesday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN) trailing the contenders in the Western Conference playoff race with 10 games remaining. They are two points behind the Calgary Flames for third in the Pacific Division and four points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

"It seems like we're right where we want to be," Kings forward Justin Williams said. "Backs against the wall and we've got to win."

He's got a point. The Kings have been in this position before; many times in fact. They always have thrived.

The Kings didn't clinch a playoff spot in 2011-12 until there were three days left in the regular season; they went on to win the Stanley Cup as the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

They had to rally after the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics last season to clinch a playoff spot as the No. 3 team in the Pacific Division; they won the Stanley Cup again after coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the first round and winning three Game 7s on the road to just reach the Final.

"Everybody realizes that we play our best hockey when we're desperate and when we have a lot of emotions poured into games," Kopitar said.

But just because the Kings know this desperation game well and play it even better doesn't mean they're comfortable being in this position this late in the season.

"Trust me, we're not [comfortable]," Williams said. "I would much rather be at 100 points by now.

"We're here because we put ourselves here. You can look at a bunch of reasons why: Overtime, shootouts, a lot of reasons why we are where we are, but that's the story."

Williams is right. The Kings are in this position because they haven't been good enough in overtime and shootouts, or one-goal games in general.

Los Angeles has won 12 of 35 one-goal games (12-9-14), including three of 17 games that have gone into overtime. The Kings are 2-7 in the shootout.

There really is nowhere else to look than their record in one-goal games for why the Kings are not secure in a playoff position. They're otherwise at least a contender, bordering on elite status.

The Kings have outshot their opponent in 66.7 percent of their games (48 of 72), and are first in the NHL in shots-against per game (27.0) and in shot-attempts percentage (SAT). They're tied for third in average shot-differential per game (plus-3.7), with the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, making them one of the premier teams when it comes to possession metrics.

"There are a lot of factors that end up affecting results and it'll be tough to analyze them all, but you've got to expect that this last 10-game push or whatever it is for them is going to be all they've got," Devils forward Mike Cammalleri said. "They have the experience and skill in that room to understand what it takes."

That much is true. Nobody has to remind the Kings about their position. They know it well and have been in it for a while. They were virtually in the same position they're in now at the All-Star break, two points out of third place in the division and trailing for the second wild card.

Los Angeles had to win eight games in a row in February just to inch its way into the playoff race. However, the Kings are just 6-5-2 since that winning streak. They have eight goals, including four at even strength, in their past five games.

What's also alarming is how they played Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks. Instead of being their typical stingy selves at suppressing shots, the Kings allowed 42 shots in a 4-1 loss. Vancouver scored three goals, including two into the empty net, on 16 shots in the third period.

Defenseman Drew Doughty said the Kings were guilty of too many turnovers and losing their typically effective defensive structure to allow the Canucks time and space, particularly off the rush. It was anti-Kings in every way in what was a big game.

They were better against New Jersey, outshooting the Devils 16-3 in the first period and 33-20 for the game.

"Everybody knows the importance," Kings forward Marian Gaborik said after the game Monday. "Everybody has been through these games, through these situations. There is a lot of experience in this room. We just have to stick with our plan, play our game, put the pieces together and do it as a team."

Their game Tuesday is the second of five in a row away from Staples Center, and the middle game of a three-in-four nights set in the New York metropolitan area. The Kings also play the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday (7 p.m. ET, SN360).

"This is basically playoffs for us," Doughty said. "If we lose games we're not going to even make it into the playoffs. So we've got to play with that same mentality that we need to win every single game that we possibly can. That's the only way we're going to make it in. We have to play with that desperation right away, and we can do it. We're trying to do it right now. I think we know what we've got to accomplish and we're going to do whatever it takes to do it."

That means finding a way to play their successful brand of playoff hockey in the regular season, which isn't an easy thing to re-create because the intensity in the playoffs rises to levels rarely, if ever, matched in the regular season.

"The bottom line is [in the] playoffs the intensity picks up because if you lose you're going home and no one wants to go home," Doughty said. "So that's the way we've got to look at it; we're going home if we don't win all these games. We've got to treat every single game that way, and if we do I think we'll win a lot."

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