The Week That Was
The Kings started their week at home by closing out a five-game home stand, followed by hitting the road for three games, facing off against a trio of Central Division opponents. Going 2-2-0 on the week, the Kings traded off wins and losses across the four games. Now 67 games into the season, the Kings hold a record of 34-22-11 and are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for the third seed in the Pacific Division with 79 points.
The Kings closed out that five-game home stand on Monday last week with an impressive shutout victory over a New York Islanders team that was on a six-game winning streak. Winning 3-0, Adrian Kempe broke the ice with the eventual game-winning goal midway into the second period. Scoring in his second game since returning to the lineup from an upper-body injury, Kempe beat Ilya Sorokin with a wrist shot on a 1-on-1 zone entry for his 20th goal of the season. This season marks Kempe’s third straight campaign scoring at least 20 goals, the most such-seasons by any Swedish-born player in Kings franchise history. Third period goals from Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore clinched the victory and a 26-save shutout from David Rittich added two points to the Kings record.
The Kings then hit the road to begin a three-game road trip beginning in St. Louis. There, the Kings fell 3-1 despite well played 60 minutes. Outshooting the Blues 41-30, the Kings could not solve goalie Jordan Binnington for the first 53 minutes of gameplay which resulted in a 3-0 deficit. A first period goal, second period goal and third period goal from the Blues gave the home team leeway by the time Kempe became the first King to solve the Blues netminder.
Two nights later, the Kings and Chicago Blackhawks dropped the puck at the United Center. It didn’t take long for the offense to arrive on this particular night as the Kings popped in four goals in the first 20 minutes. Pierre-Luc Dubois struck first in the game with a power-play goal just 3:10 in for his 15th goal of the season in his 500th career game. Just over two minutes later, Alex Laferriere tipped in a Matt Roy point shot for his 10th goal on the season, followed by two Anze Kopitar goals with a pair of beautiful primary assists from linemate Quinton Byfield. Jordan Spence then got in on the action in the action in the second period with his first goal of the season and extended the lead to 5-0. Picking up the shutout for the Kings was Cam Talbot, who made 28 saves on the night.
Following the win, the Kings traveled to Dallas and faced the Stars on the second half of a back-to-back. Entering the game 2-5-2 in those instances, the Kings failed to overcome a three-goal first period from the Stars and lost 4-1. The Stars took a 4-0 lead 23:30 into the game and only allowed a Kevin Fiala goal the rest of the way, resulting in a .500 week for the Kings.
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- The Kings hold a record of 11-7-1 under Interim Head Coach Jim Hiller.
- Cam Talbot and David Rittich split the starts this past week, each getting the nod twice.
- Viktor Arvidsson and Carl Grundstrom remain sidelined due to injury.
- Mikey Anderson returned to the Kings lineup on Monday, against the New York Islanders and appeared in all four games this past week after missing the previous eight games due to injury.
- Adrian Kempe led the way offensively across the four-game week with four points (2-2=4).
- The Kings power play went 1-for-9 in their four games, placing them 14th in the NHL (21.7%).
- The Kings penalty kill went 12-for-13 in their four games, ranking them 1st in the NHL (86.4%).
The Week That Is
Looking at the upcoming week, the Kings return home for a three-game home stand that’ll take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.
The week’s game schedule begins with a rematch from last Wednesday against the 19-44-5 Chicago Blackhawks, this time on home ice. Having just defeated the Blackhawks 5-0, the Kings will hope to contain rookie sensation Connor Bedard for a second straight game. Bedard, who leads all rookies in goals, assists and points (21-32=53) across 54 games played this season has been hot as late with 10 points (4-6=10) in the last five games. As a team, it’s been all or nothing for the Blackhawks in the last seven games. Having gone 4-3-0, the Blackhawks have averaged 6.0 goals per game in the four wins, but have scored just one total goal in the three combined losses. This will be the second of three games against the Blackhawks this season with the third game coming in the season finale in LA on April 19th.
The following night, the Kings will host the streaking Minnesota Wild for their second of three matchups this season. Having picked up points in seven straight games (5-0-2), the Wild now sit just five points outside of the playoffs and five points behind the Kings. The man to stop in Minnesota is no other than Kirill Kaprisov. Dating back to February 1st, Kaprisov leads the NHL in goals (16) and even strength goals (11), and ranks third in points (16-16=32), trailing only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. While it’s been Kaprisov leading the way offensively, the Wild have been leaning on veteran goaltender and future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury in net. The 39-year-old is 9-2-1 in his last 12 starts, has the league’s second best goals against average (1.92) and has the third best save percentage (.928%) since January 13th. Yet to be known which goalie the Kings will face on Wednesday night, both the Wild and Kings will be playing on the second half of a back-to-back. As mentioned previously, the Kings are 2-6-2 in those games, while the Wild are 4-2-3 in those instances.
Two free nights will follow the back-to-back games for the Kings and a weekend date with the Tampa Bay Lightning will await the Kings. Dropping the puck with Tampa Bay on Saturday, the 36-25-6 Lighting currently hold onto the top Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, four points clear of the second Wild Card holder, the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning also hold the NHL’s top power play, clicking at 29.8% behind the all-worldly play of Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov leads the NHL in power play points (43), points per game (1.73) and ranks second in points (40-74=114) across 66 games. Also contributing to the Lightning’s success is captain Steven Stamkos, who ranks sixth in the NHL in power-play goals (14), Viktor Hedman, who is tied for third among defensemen in points (12-55=67) and Brayden Point, who is second in the NHL in forecheck chances (31).
Upcoming games this week:
