The Week That Was
The Kings picked up four of a possible six points the past week across three home games at Crypto.com Arena. Now holding a record of 29-17-10, the Kings sit in a tie for third in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers, each with 68 points, but have played in one more game than their rival north of the border. The three-game week at home included closing out two season series versus non divisional opponents and a weekend thriller in Round 2 of the season’s Freeway Face-Off.
Beginning with their Tuesday tilt against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Kings extended their then winning streak to four games with a 5-1 win. The first period began slow, but ended in fireworks. With just 1:38 remaining in the opening period, Quinton Byfield scored the game’s opening goal on a beautiful and skillful individual play. Upon entering the offensive zone without any help, the forward deked his way around Blue Jackets captain Zach Werenski and made a slick move to beat the goalie with a backhand shot for a Goal of the Year candidate. A pair of goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois in the second period followed and another pair of Kings goals in the third period by Kevin Fiala on the power play and Drew Doughty at even strength solidified the Kings win.
The Kings followed up Tuesday’s win with a regulation loss to the Nashville Predators two nights later. Seeing the Predators for the third time this season and second time in Los Angeles, the Kings dropped the rubber match against their fellow Western Conference Wild Card holder, falling 4-1. The teams traded goals in the first period, beginning with a Yakov Trenin goal for the Predators midway into the period. Late in the opening 20, Kevin Fiala knotted the score at 1-1 with a 5-on-3 power-play goal for his 15th goal of the season and 400th career point (162-238=400). Unfortunately for the Kings, no offense would result the rest of the night. A Predators goal by Mark Jankowski in the second period gave the visitors a 2-1 lead and two empty net goals in the last minutes of the regulation resulted in a 4-1 defeat.
Into the weekend, the Kings saw their neighbors to the south for the second of four times this season. In a special teams filled game, the Kings and Ducks went the distance. All four goals in regulation came with a man in the box, resulting in three power play goals and one shorthanded goal. The Kings had to overcome two one-goal deficits on Saturday as they responded twice evening the score. First by Fiala, again on the power play scoring his 16th goal of the season, then by Drew Doughty, who notched his 13th goal of the season, the Kings and Ducks made their way to a shootout. There, the Kings won the shootout 2-1 behind goals from Dubois and Trevor Moore and multiple stops from David Rittich.
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- The Kings hold a record of 6-2-0 under Interim Head Coach Jim Hiller.
- David Rittich made two of the three starts this past week and went 1-1-0, stopping 29 of 33 shots.
- Viktor Arvidsson was placed on LTIR for the second time this season after sustaining a lower-body injury against the Columbus Blue Jackets on 2/20. Arvidsson has appeared in four games for the Kings this season and the team has gone 4-0-0 with the Swede in the lineup. Arvidsson has been deemed “week-to-week” and is out until at least mid-March.
- Mikey Anderson left the game against the Nashville Predators on 2/22 in the third period and did not return. Anderson missed Saturday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and has also been deemed “week-to-week,” but has not been placed on IR.
- The Kings have also placed Carl Grundstrom on LTIR.
- Kevin Fiala (3-1=4), Drew Doughty (2-2=4) and Adrian Kempe (0-4=4) each led the way offensively for the Kings this past week.
- The Kings power play went 5-for-9 in their three games, moving them up six spots in the NHL to 9th (22.9%).
- The Kings penalty kill went 7-for-8 in their three game, ranking them 1st in the NHL (86.5%).
The Week That Is
Looking forward, the Kings have a busy and largely impactful week on their hands. Playoff implications on the line, the Kings will hit the road and take on their three Canadian divisional opponents this week before returning home to face the New Jersey Devils over the weekend.
The week’s schedule begins on Monday night in Edmonton against the Oilers as the teams will face off for the third of four times this season and first time north of the border. The Kings have picked up three of a possible four points against the Oilers so far in their two previous meetings. Now heading into enemy territory, the Oilers have dropped three straight game at home (0-2-1) going into the Monday night's game and are looking to hold onto the third seed in the division as the winner of the game will take control of that spot. Connor McDavid enters Monday’s game on a nine-game goalless drought, but continues to light up the stat chart as he’s produced 18 assists in the last eight games. McDavid leads the NHL in assists (68), primary assists (41) and ranks third in points (21-68=89). His linemate Zach Hyman has had an outstanding year as he ranks fourth in the NHL in goals (37) and is a point-per-game player. Offensively, the Oilers continue to be lethal on the power play. One year after setting the NHL record for power play percentage, the Oilers rank fourth in the NHL, clicking at a 27.3% rate. Going back to the two previous games against the Oilers this season, the Kings have killed off 7-of-8 Oilers power plays.
One night later, the Kings will travel to the other Alberta team and face off against the Calgary Flames. So far this season, the Kings are 2-4-2 on the second half of back-to-back’s, while in this case, the Flames will be waiting for them on two days rest. The Kings and Flames are scheduled to face off for the second of four times this season on Tuesday and will drop the puck for the first of two times in Calgary. Having defeated the Flames 5-3 back on December 23rd, the Flames currently hold a record of 28-25-5 and sit five points outside of the second and final Wild Card spot. Now playing some of their best of the season, the Flames enter Tuesday’s game on a three-game winning streak with defeats over heavyweights Winnipeg, Boston and Edmonton and have averaged 5.0 goals per game during that span. One player to keep an eye on heading into the game will be Jonathan Huberdeau. Huberdeau, who has struggled mightily since joining the Flames a season and a half ago may have found his footing, tallying 10 points (3-7=10) in his last nine games.
Two nights later, the Kings travel west to British Columbia and will face the NHL’s best, the Vancouver Canucks. Holding a record of 38-16-6, the Canucks will the see the Kings for the first of four times this season. Strong on both ends of the ice, the Canucks rank second in the NHL in offense, averaging 3.63 goals for per game and have the league’s top goaltender when it comes to wins. The American born Thatcher Demko holds a record of 31-12-1 and has a .920 SV%. With their offense coming from all areas, we begin with the Canucks having the NHL’s top scoring defenseman in Quinn Hughes, who has 70 points (12-58=70). Not to be overshadowed, three forwards in particular are having outstanding seasons. Elias Petterson has notched 74 points (29-45=74), Brock Boeser ranks fifth in the NHL in power play goals (13) and seventh in goals (33) and JT Miller ranks fifth in the league in points (29-50=79). Furthermore, both Pettersson and Boeser have had tremendous success against the Kings. In 14 career games against the Kings, Pettersson has notched 19 points (8-11=19) and in 16 career games against the Kings. Boeser has tallied 19 points (14-5=19).
After closing out the ultra important road trip, the Kings will head home to face a New Jersey Devils team who will be on the third leg of their three-game California road trip. Airing on TNT and MAX, it’ll be the second and final time that the two teams face off this season. With the first tilt going in favor of the Kings on February 15th, a season series sweep would be a great way to end the week. Surprising to many, the 29-25-4 Devils currently find themselves seven points outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. If the Kings want to stop the Devils, they’ll want to stop superstar Jack Hughes. With 52 points (18-34=52) in 42 games this season, Hughes' 1.24 points per game ranks 12th in the NHL. Alongside him, Jesper Bratt leads the Devils in assists and points (21-38=59) across 58 games this season. Better on the road than at home, the Devils are 15-10-2 away from the Prudential Center and are 9-1-0 when leading after the first period in the road and 12-0-0 when leading after the second period on the road.
Upcoming games this week:
- 2/26 @ Edmonton Oilers @ 6:30 (Bally Sports West)
- 2/27 @ Calgary Flames @ 6:00 (Bally Sports West
- 2/29 @ Vancouver Flames @ 7:00 (Bally Sports West)
- 3/3 vs. New Jersey Devils @ 12:30 (TNT & MAX)
