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The Week That Was

The Kings hit their final three legs of their five-game road trip this past week. Closing out the trip with a 2-3-0 record, the Kings sit comfortably in third place in the Pacific Division with a 25-13-5 record. As we head into the new week, the Kings (55 points) currently find themselves six points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers (61 points), but have played three less games than both clubs.

Game Recaps:

1/13: LAK 0 @ EDM 1

1/16: LAK 5 @ VAN 1

1/18: LAK 2 @ SEA 3

Notable News From The Week That Was:

  • Alex Turcotte's (2-1=3) and Adrian Kempe's (2-1=3) three-point week across the three games earned the duo a split for the team's top scoring honors.
  • Adrian Kempe two goals on the week further added to his team-leading 22 goals on the season. Kempe leads the Kings by seven goals over Kevin Fiala.
  • Adrian Kempe's three points on the week has brought himself up to 42 points on the season (22-20=42) and into a tie for the team lead in points with Anze Kopitar (12-30=42) 43 games into the season.
  • Darcy Kuemper started all three games for the Kings, accumulating a 1-2-0 record with a .931 save percentage and a 1.71 goals against average.
  • The Kings power play went 2-for-6 in the three games and remains 29th in the NHL (16.0%).
  • The Kings went 10-for-10 on the penalty kill in the three games, rising seven spots to 4th in the NHL (83.2%).

The Week That Is

The Kings return home for a brief two-game home stand this week, but will head back on the road for another five-game road trip starting this weekend. Set to drop the puck at Crypto.com on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, it’ll be the Kings first home game in 16 days after their home game on January 8th was postponed due to the LA wildfires. Following the Monday tilt, the Kings will welcome in the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, before hitting the road again. Suitcases repacked, the Kings will close out their week’s games on Saturday in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, kicking off another five-game road trip.

Monday’s game against the Penguins will be the first of eight straight contests against the Eastern Conference for the Kings. Having had success so far this season against the those in the East, the Kings enter the week 11-4-3 versus the Eastern Conference. Having faced the Penguins in Pittsburgh earlier this season, the Kings will look to double their points outcome from the previous meeting when they fell 3-2 in overtime. When the Penguins take on the Kings in Los Angeles, it’ll be stop number three of seven on their season-long seven-game road trip. Currently 1-1-0 to start their trip after splitting a back-to-back (5-2 W @BUF, 4-1 L @WSH), the Penguins will look to improve on their less than ideal 7-11-5 road record. One reason for the Penguins struggles on their road has been their goaltending, surrendering the 29th most goals against on the road this season at 3.57 GAA. While on the topic of goaltending, two Penguins goalies have been in the NHL’s headlines as late; and for two very different reasons. Struggling mightily this season, the Penguins placed Tristan Jarry on waivers on January 15th after posting a 3.31 GAA and .886 SV% across 22 games. Going unclaimed as expected due to being in his second year of a five-year, $26.88M ($5.38M AAV) deal, Jarry reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in effort to refind his game. Now in the starting role for the Penguins, Alex Nedeljkovic made waves across the NHL on this past Friday for his offensive production rather than his goaltending. Nedeljkovic recorded a goalie goal versus the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-2 win and picked up an assist on the eventual game-winning goal as well, all while make 40 saves on 42 shots. Nedeljkovic enters Monday with a record of 8-7-4. The Penguins have played a league-high 48 games so far this season and once again Sidney Crosby is leading the way offensively. Averaging over a point per game for a mind blowing 19th consecutive season, Crosby has recorded 49 points (12-37=49), nine clear of Rickard Rakell’s 40 points (23-17=40). Crosby’s 37 helpers ranks eighth in the NHL.

Next up, the Kings will host the 27-17-3 Panthers on national television (TNT) on Wednesday. This will be the first of two meetings between the clubs as the Kings will make their way east a week from Wednesday to close out the season series in Florida. When the Panthers take on the Kings on Wednesday, they’ll be comfortable away from their confines. The Panthers have had success on the road, going 14-8-1. Their 14 wins are tied for the fourth most road wins in the NHL. As for personnel, fresh off of a 57-goal season last year and having inked an eight-year, $69M ($8.63M AAV) extension in the offseason, Sam Reinhart has continued his outstanding string of good play into this season. Currently on pace for a 47-goal campaign, Reinhart leads all Panthers in goals (27) and points (51). One player who has not been able to carry over from last year’s success has been star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky has lost five of his last six starts (1-4-1) and has allowed four goals in each of his last three appearances. As it stands, Bobrovsky’s current .896 SV% would be the worst save percentage of his career. Thankfully for the Panthers, their former first round draft pick from 2019 (13th overall) Spencer Knight has picked up the slack and more. Since December 22nd, Knight is 4-0-1 with a .936 SV%, 1.63 GAA, including one shutout.

The final game of the week will take place in Columbus as the Kings will wrap up their season series with the Blue Jackets. Playing their best hockey of the season, the Blue Jackets have earned points in seven straight games (6-0-1) and have made their way up into the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. Holding a record of 22-17-7, the emergence of 24-year-old Russian forward Kirill Marchenko has translated to the Blue Jackets team success. Marchenko currently leads the NHL in plus/minus with a +28 rating. Having just fallen to the New York Rangers 1-0 in a shootout on Saturday, Marchenko had his six-game point streak (2-5=7) snapped. Marchenko leads the Blue Jackets in goals with 18 and ranks second on the team points with 49 (18-31=49) in 46 games. Leading the Blue Jackets offensively is a healthy captain in Zach Werenski. Werenski’s 51 points this season (15-36=51) ranks second among NHL blueliners, trailing only Colorado’s Cale Makar by just a single point. When the Kings see the Blue Jackets, it’ll be Jackets lone home game sandwiched between two four-game road trips. Despite not being home recently, the Blue Jackets are tied for the fifth most home wins this season with 16 (16-5-3). Entering Monday, the Blue Jackets average an NHL-best 4.08 GF/GP at home and have the second best home power play at 29.5%, compared to a 27th ranked 2.45 GF/GP on the road and a 26th ranked road power play of 16.1%.

Upcoming games and events this week:

All Kings games can be heard on the ESPN LA App.