The Los Angeles Kings took game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on the shoulders of a hardcore effort.  The Kings dominated the majority of the game and managed to tally 3 goals despite a strong performance from Mike Smith.  Let’s take a look at some key points from Game 1:

-Smith was on his game but the Kings managed to get traffic to the net and a few breakaway chances.  The Kings could have had 2 or 3 more if it weren’t for some bouncing pucks and posts (not bouncing posts, just posts in general).

-Quick let by a bad one from center ice but he regained his composure and was solid the rest of the way out.  He didn’t look fantastic on the Coyotes 2nd goal, however it was more of a defensive breakdown than solely Quick’s fault.

-Brown had yet another great game.  He brought a perfect combination of chippy and offensive.  Brown managed to get under the ‘Yotes skin and perhaps bait a few penalties.  However, he’ll have to stay disciplined and watch the retaliatory penalties.

-On that subject, the Kings need to stay disciplined in general.  There were just a few too many where the Kings took shots at Coyotes and vice versa.  If the ‘Yotes get chippy, the Kings can’t get drawn into a tit for tat game.

-The PK remained crucial for the Kings.  The PP remained pitiful.  Water is still wet.

-Kopitar’s backhand goal was one of the prettiest things I’ve seen in a long time.  Some serious skill.

-Boedker is good.  He likes to pull into the offensive zone and stop, then look for a cross ice pass.  The ‘Yotes in general seem to like that play.  Something to keep an eye on but if the Kings can force the Coyotes into a board battle, their chances look better.

-Shane Doan is going to be a major thorn.  He’s very Dustin Brown like but just from the looks of game one he has a shorter fuse.  He’ll hit, he’ll score, and if he can’t do those, he’ll try to draw penalties.  Once again, discipline will be key.

-Big game from Dwight King.  Aside from his 2 goals, he was strong on the forecheck.  The Kings forechecking is a huge asset and really disrupts the Coyotes flow.  Look for Trevor Lewis to continue to be a pest in this part of the game.

-The confidence Sutter has in this team during pressers is great.  He doesn’t show the same sort of frustration Murray tended to show.  Makes me wonder how much his outlook affects the players.  The confidence he and the players showed in Quick after that first Phoenix goal was great.

Game 2 will be in Phoenix on Tuesday at 6pm PT.

Go Kings!

The Los Angeles Kings are on fire.  On Sunday afternoon, they completed a series sweep of the 2nd seeded St. Louis Blues en route to their second Conference Final in franchise history.  For Kings fans that have endured many lean years, it’s time they enjoy these fat times.  Is that appropriate to say?  Not a shift goes by that Kings fans aren’t thankful for the ride their team has taken them on.  So it’s on to the next series.

Before the series, the Kings and Blues were considered mirror images of each other.  What went right for the Kings against the Blues?  Let’s take a look!

-They were a physical force.  They beat the Blues up and the physical edge paid dividends.

-The penalty kill was bonkers.  The Blues had problems with the PP before the playoffs but it seemed as though they had those problems solved against the Sharks.  That was not the case against the Kings.  The Blues went 0 for 17 in their series against the Kings.  Not to mention the shorthanded goals.

-The forecheck.  The Kings were tenacious, namely Trevor Lewis.  They made it very hard for the Blues to get out of their own end and prevented them from carrying any momentum into the Kings zone.

-They crashed the crease.  The Kings went at Elliot hard and often.  Especially Dustin Brown.  He didn’t have a goal until the last game of the series, however his crease-crash of Elliot on the Matt Greene goal was typical of the type of play the Captain led with.

-The big names are showing up.  Kopitar, Richards, Carter, Brown, Doughty, and yes, even Penner all had their A-games going.

-Quick.  Once again Quick was excellent.  He’s a big game player, he makes the big save when it counts.  He props this team up when they need it.  It’s interesting to note, however, that Bob McKenzie, Craig Button, and Marc Crawford all named Brown as their MVP pick for the Kings through 2 rounds.

What did not go well?

-The Power Play.  It’s not good.  It’s bound to be the worst PP in the next round.  Yet, the Kings Penalty Kill has made the man-advantage moot so far.  They cancel it out.  Sutter has the wonderful perspective that the Kings have scored when they needed to on the PP.  However, we have yet to see the downside of that equation.

-There were occasional disciplinary lapses.  The Kings can’t resort to laziness when they’re up in a game because it leads to Power Plays for the opposition.

What about the next round?  Well, they don’t have an opponent yet but the Coyotes lead the Predators in their series 3 games to 1.  The Coyotes are another low scoring team that gets by on spectacular goaltending.  Mike Smith will be quite the hurdle.  If the Preds manage to comeback, the Kings will be faced with a huge goaltender in Pekka Rinne and a party-boy Russian offense.  Okay, I’m kidding.  They have a rough and tumble, diverse team with some of the best defensemen in the world.  Who are you rooting for?

Kings fans couldn’t be more excited about the playoffs that their team has had up until now and they can’t wait for the next round.  The ride that this team has put together is worth every bit of the itching that this terrible beard is giving me.

Go Kings!

The Kings are playing quite well for the 8th seed in the West.  They toppled the 1st seed Vancouver Canucks, who just won their second straight President’s Trophy.  I know it’s just 1 game into the 2nd round against the 2nd best team in the West (and league, really) but the Kings Game 1 road victory poses some questions.  How is this 8th seed so good?  I know it’s not the first time an 8th seed has performed well.  In 2006, the 8th seeded Oilers got within 1 game of lifting the Cup.  However, what is it about these Kings that makes them such a good 8th seed?

1) Misleading Record.  The Kings play during the regular season was inconsistent and often just poor.  However, they peaked at the right time, heading into the playoffs.  You might look at their record and scratch your head but remember that this is a totally different team from earlier this season.

2) Playoff Potency.  This is the 3rd straight year the Kings have made the playoffs, which means experience.  On top of that, the Kings have 2 of the things you absolutely need to win a Championship: Strong Defense and Goaltending.  They lack in offensive department, or at least they have up until now, yet the 2 factors that can keep a team in the hunt the Kings have.  Everybody has heard the saying “Defense Wins Championships”, well I guess we’ll see.  The Western Conference has some defensive beasts.  The Eastern Conference has some offensive forces.  Unstoppable force meets the immovable object?

3) Talent.  It’s not that the Kings didn’t have talent all season, it’s just that they were underperforming all season.  This isn’t a ragtag bunch of no-names who have fought their way here, this is Kopitar, Brown, Carter, Mike Richards, Doughty, and so on.  Dustin Penner should be in that list too and he has come up big in the Playoffs so far.

4) Depth.  There was criticism of the Kings depth around trade deadline time when they dealt Jack Johnson.  However, the man who has been getting most of JJ’s minutes, Slava Voynov, has been great so far.  On offense, the Kings roll 4 lines, which keeps everyone fresh.  Everyone has a role and no one has a problem doing that role.  This isn’t the type of team that solely relies on one guy to get the job done or needs match ups to sway the balance (a big road advantage).

5) Lack of hype.  The Kings play in a HUGE market where hockey gets the shaft.  Even though the Los Angeles Hockey fanbase is huge and really strong, the L.A. sport media remains ignorant.  Seriously, they used the old Kings logo on the local news the other night.  I’ve seen them use the Sacramento Kings logo before!  Unfortunately, the lack of TV time for the Kings causes the hype-o-meter to dip.  It doesn’t matter that every other teen is rockin’ a Kings hat, outside L.A. no one is the wiser.  You take this team with this record and put them in a different town and there would be a lot more recognition of their talents.  Los Angeles has three teams using Staples Center for the playoffs this season, and the most shocking is the Clippers, not the Kings.

Defying all the critics, the Kings downed the President’s Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks in just 5 games.  Now they move on to the second best team in the West, the St. Louis Blues.  The Blues also had a mid-season coaching change that turned them in the right direction.  Ken Hitchcock turned the Blues into a defensive stalwart.  They managed to beat out old favorite Detroit, recent Cup winner Chicago, and new powerhouse Nashville in order to win the division.  Of course, they did have 6 games against stepping stool Columbus but I digress. 

St. Louis is good.  Really good.  ‘Tied for 2nd best record in the league’ good.  ‘Least goals allowed in the league’ good.  ‘Second best home record in the league’ good.  I could go on in this manner but I’ll just make some bullet points instead.  Bullet points are more fun.

-St. Louis starter Jaroslav Halak went down to injury in the 1st round and was replaced by back up Brian Elliott… who didn’t lose a game and has better numbers than Halak.  Both St. Louis netminders had over 20 wins this season.  They had a combined 15 shutouts this season.  Quick’s 10 shutouts just edged Elliot’s 9.  Long story short: the Kings goal-scoring isn’t going to come any easier.

-The Kings beat the Blues in their season series, 3-1.  The Kings’ most emphatic win, a 5-0 drubbing, came pre-Hitchcock.

-You’ll hear a lot of comparisons between competitors during the playoffs but comparisons directed at these two teams are accurate.  Good defense, good goaltending, low scoring, physical hockey.  Both teams are young and talented.  Etc.

-Former Duck (booooo) Andy McDonald was their best forward during the first round.  However, Backes is their physical power-forward, Oshie is very talented, as are Perron and Berglund.  They have some offensive chops up front.  Arnott provides that veteran presence.  Pietrangelo and Colaiacovo are their Doughty and Voynov from the blueline.

Okay, bullet pause.  I’m just comparing now, which is what I feel like I’ll end up doing for the rest of this thing, so I’m going to break it down into key points that will affect the series:

1) Special teams - Both teams were comparable during the regular season BUT the Blues powerplay has found its flow in the playoffs.  The Kings need to do that too.

2) Home/Road - The Blues have home-ice advantage, but the Kings have been deadly on the road in the playoffs.  Could this be because of Sutter’s feelings on…

3) Match ups - Kings’ coach Darryl Sutter doesn’t give a flying fudge about match ups, which gave the ‘Nucks problems.  Will it give the Blues the same problem or will their similarities in depth cancel out that advantage?

4) Rust - Obsolete at this point.  The East took so long to get to round 2 that all 4 Western teams had plenty of rest.

5) Discipline - The Kings took some bad penalties in the last series.  Their PK is good but it’s better to not give the Blues those chances.

6) Physicality - The Kings have more heavy hitters than St. Louis.  Can they bully the Blues around the ice?  Can they neutralize the skill of Oshie, Perron, and McDonald, exposing their fragility?

Okay, so those are the key points in my opinion.  Don’t ask me why one of the key points is obsolete, it just is.  Okay, now some random thoughts:

-It would be great is Jeff Carter is operating at full speed in round 2.  Hopefully his ankle is healed and he can turn into a goal scoring force.  He got a lot of playing time, however, he can make his minutes deadlier with improved play.

-Can Doughty turn on the skill and make the Kings’ PP deadly?  He has it in him to create space and find lanes.  It comes down to making smart decisions…

-Does Brown stay hot?  Does Quick stay hot?

-Does Kopitar go from good to great?

-Can the 4th line gobble up important minutes and be a thorn in the Blues’ side?

I guess we’ll see, but I like the Kings’ chances.  My Prediction: I’d say Kings in 7.  7 goals scored total in this series.  4 shutouts.  EA’s computer melts trying to simulate this series. 

Go Kings!

The Los Angeles Kings, seen as serious underdogs in their first round match up against the President’s Trophy winner Vancouver Canucks, managed to topple the Goliath in just 5 games.  I want to just point out a few things that helped the Kings to their first series win in 11 years.

-Despite missing top scorer Daniel Sedin for the first 2 games (CORRECTION: Daniel missed the first 3 games.  Thanks, Bryan) of the series, hockey pundits and journalists had the Canucks pulling through with ease.  However, these playoffs have seen the usual suspects going down to some new faces.  The Kings, Predators, and Blues have all advanced.  Phoenix is on the cusp of eliminating the Blackhawks.

-While it is easy to blame the Canucks’ series loss on Daniel Sedin’s absence, a bigger problem is that Kesler, Booth, Raymond, and Higgins all failed to tally goals in the series.  The Canucks only managed 8 goals in the 5 game series.

-The Kings use of 4 lines seemed to give them a boost of energy in the grueling, physical series.  It will likely be key as the playoffs wear on.

-While he hasn’t been dynamic all series, Doughty showed some of the offensive prowess he possesses in the Kings’ game 5 victory, driving to the net and assisting on Richardson’s goal.

-Luongo wasn’t the problem in net for the Canucks, yet his numbers were drastically worse than backup Schneider’s.  It reignites the debate of who should be Vancouver’s starter.  With some turnaround expected in Vancouver, both player and coaching-wise, it will be interesting to see if Luongo gets put on the block.  Of course they’ll have to find a taker for his gargantuan contract that extends another 10 years.

-Quick was phenomenal.  His numbers are bonkers.  He is, again, the reason the team is in the second round.  At this point, I find it unlikely the Kings would part with Quick as their franchise man but that’s a discussion for another day.

-Vancouver looked much better with both Sedin’s in the line-up.  However, the Kings found their game in the second period last night and were able to eke out an OT win to close out the series.

-Oh Captain!  My Captain!  Brown was lights out.  He continues to shut up the doubters, leading the Kings in goals and points through round 1.  The top line of Kopitar, Brown, and Williams looked very good at times.

-Jeff Carter will be interesting to track as his ankle gets stronger.  The Kings will need some offense from him as they move into round 2.

-At this point, anything from Penner is welcome and he was pretty good in round 1.

-As I have said before, the Kings seem to have settle down from the jitters they had the past 2 seasons.

-St. Louis has a pretty good powerplay now.  Kings will have to limit penalties.

-On that same token, the Kings’ powerplay is still awful and will need to pick up the pace.

-Lastly: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!  Round 2, baby!!!!!

Go Kings!

Waiting sucks.  A lot.  That’s what every fan, Canucks and Kings alike, are enduring right now.  A full 4 days in between games (from puck drop to puck drop).  So while we wait and marinate for the next game in Vancouver, here are some random thoughts based entirely in my own head and not necessarily backed by any facts or stats.

-The Kings have been thoroughly outplayed for 2 games in a row now and managed to split them.  This seems more in line with the Kings play for the majority of the season and not so much how they were playing down the stretch.  Hopefully they haven’t cooled down again.

-Discipline, or the lack thereof, was one of the big deciding factors for the Kings in Game 4.  Senseless penalties like the one Colin Fraser took cannot happen if the Kings plan to win this series.  Fraser did redeem himself a bit with some strong play on the 4th line, which had the most jump of any line in Game 4.

-Aren’t you glad there hasn’t been a sh*t ton of line shuffling a la Terry Murray?  I’m not a Murray-hater but man, did he like to shuffle lines.

-Jeff Carter has been frosty ice-cold so far.  I don’t know if his ankle is not at 100%, but he doesn’t seem to put up a lot of impressive shifts.  Over the course of a regular, uninjured, totally-inside-of-a-vacuum season, Carter should easy lead the Kings in goals.  It would be nice for him to have an All-Star type game.

-So far, it breaks down like this to me: Richards owned Game 1, Brown owned Game 2, Quick owned Game 3, the Sedin’s owned Game 4.  Who owns Game 5?

-Will the Sedin’s be even harder to deal with when the Canucks control the matchups in Vancouver?  I don’t think so since Sutter doesn’t really believe in matchups.

-Doughty has also been quiet, in both the good and bad way.  He hasn’t been putting much up in the way of game-breaking offense from the blueline.  However, he hasn’t been bad in the “tries-to-hip-check-Logan-Couture-but-totally-whiffs-and-costs-the-Kings-a-goal” kind of way either.

-Kopitar has been good, but he hasn’t been “take-over-a-game” good.  Nobody doubts he has that ability but unless he turns it up a notch, he will remain on the edge of “1st line center”, just outside “franchise center”.

-I didn’t really feel like the Canucks played this dirty in the Kings series with them year before last.  However, I think the Canucks had a much easier, less frustrating time with the Kings as well.

-Sort of on that same subject, it bothers me that a lot of the dirtiness, not just of the Canucks but of all teams, gets put under the umbrella of what is acceptable in order to win a Stanley Cup.  Sure, gristle and grime is necessary, but I don’t think the highly respectable HOF players of the past would stoop to some of the lows we’ve seen in recent seasons.  I feel like it used to be a handful of chippy, nasty players did that elbowing, finger-biting, spearing stuff (Claude Lemieux, Avery, Carcillo, Lapierre, old-Cooke, etc.)  but not it seems like everyone is doing it.  I dunno, just some thoughts.

-I really hope the Kings win the next game.  If not that, the series.

Go Kings!

The Los Angeles Kings finished off their miraculous late season push on a bit of a tough skid, dropping their last 2 contests to the San Jose Sharks, both games in OT or shootout.  The Kings fell from the division lead to last place in the Conference with Phoenix stealing the 3rd seed and the Sharks taking the 7th seed. 

What I’m stating here might sound a little bit negative but on the contrary, I’m very pleased with the Kings’ effort down the stretch.  No doubt if you had spoken with me a month ago I would have thought the Kings were headed for the golf course and not a playoff date.

However, the Kings don’t have it easy.  They’ll be taking on the Vancouver Canucks who finished with the best record in the league for the 2nd straight season.  As I’m sure you know, the Canucks are a championship caliber team, losing out to the Boston Bruins last season by just 1 game.

Yet, despite being a formidable team with a great record, I would rather the Kings face the Canucks over facing Detroit, Chicago, or Nashville.  Maybe that’s due to my own naivete but that’s not anything new.

Let’s breakdown the match up:

Offense: The Canucks are no joke in this department, scoring the most goals in the Western Conference this season.  The Sedin twins are a force, and Burrows, Kesler, Hansen, and Higgins are great depth scoring support.  Even at that, the Canucks offense is down from last season.  A mediocre season for Ryan Kesler, and injuries have hampered their output.

For the Kings, offense has been woeful.  I don’t need to explain how poor the Kings offense was this season, however, they finished on a hot streak.  Goal-scoring was way up after the acquisition of Jeff Carter and the Kings likely made the playoffs due to the offensive boost.  The Kings will have to overcome the mark of the lowest scoring team to make the playoffs this season in order to advance.

Advantage: Canucks

Defense: Both teams have strong defense.  In fact, the only team in the playoffs to allow less goals than either the Canucks or Kings is the St. Louis Blues.  The Kings have a great mixture of offensive ability and defensive prowess from the blueline.  The Canucks have a similar mix of offense and defense from the back-end, led by Alex Edler and Dan Hamhuis.

When it comes down to it, the Kings have had problems playing the same defense during the playoffs that they have during the regular season.  If they can manage to do exactly that, they’ll take the edge here.

Advantage: Kings

Power-Play: The Canucks are ranked 4th in the league.  The Kings are ranked 17th.  With the personnel the Kings have they should be much better.  If they can tap into that potential they can sway the balance.  Teams that score on the power-play generally win games in the playoffs (except for last season when Boston was dreadful).  However, as it stands now, the Canucks have the advantage.

Advantage: Canucks

Penalty Kill: Both teams are very good at the PK.  The Kings rank 4th in the NHL and the Canucks come in at 6th, a mere 1% lower (87% to 86%).  The Kings have some dangerous ability to go the other way when down a man as well.  Kopitar and Richards showed that on several occasions this season.

Advantage: Kings (barely)

Goaltending: To put it lightly, Jonathan Quick is the reason the Kings are in the playoffs.  He’s had a stellar season on a team that just couldn’t get that extra goal when he needed it.  He notched 10 shutouts this season, a league high.

On the other side, the Canucks have 2 great goaltenders.  Luongo had another strong season and Cory Schneider arguably had a better one as his backup (20-8-1 with a .937 save % as a backup?!).  The story now is that Luongo feels Schneider breathing down his neck and it may shake his confidence.  If the Kings can rattle this goaltending duo and make the Canucks nervous, they can do some damage.  On the Kings side, the rest of the team needs to support Quick so that he doesn’t over extend himself, try to do too much, and end up making mistakes.

Advantage: Even

Coaching: I’m not going to pretend like I know who is the better coach.  I will say what I do know.  Vigneault has been with the Canucks for a long time, the players respond to him, and he has (recent) playoff experience.  He knows how to win in the playoffs.

Sutter has been effective so far as the Coach for the Kings.  He has a passionate approach to the game that I think will benefit the Kings more in the playoffs than did Murray’s style.  However, with as far as the Canucks have gone into the playoffs in recent years, Vigneault has the clear upper hand.

Advantage: Canucks

X-Factor: The Canucks have a lot of reputations attributed to them.  They’re called dirty, divers, etc.  I’m not going to remark on whether these are true or not but no one can doubt the efficacy of it.  The Canucks get under the skin of the opponents and make them pay when they get emotional.  Max Lapierre will be chief among the s***-starters, and Ryan Kesler can be a gnat too.

The Kings counter punch with their 4th line.  Fraser and Clifford in particular will have to neutralize the grit and grime of the Canucks and let the Kings star players do their job.

Advantage: Canucks

Injuries: Both the Kings and Canucks sustained significant injuries down the stretch.  The Kings lost Jeff Carter to an ankle injury and no doubt missed him in their final 2 games of the season.  Jeff Carter should be good to go for the playoffs.

The Canucks sustained a significant blow when their top goal-scorer Daniel Sedin sustained a concussion and missed the last 9 games of the season.  The Canucks desperately need Daniel in order to compete with the Kings’ tough defense.  However, we all know Henrik can step up and score goals in the absence of his brother.

The Kings have a tough draw in the Canucks.  However, there is no such thing as an easy draw in the West and they have a good a chance as anyone to beat Vancouver.  If they can play the game they were playing down the stretch in their last dozen or so games, the Kings have a great chance of beating the Canucks in the 1st round.  I hate making predictions but-

Prediction: Kings in 7.

Go Kings!

I’ve seen a lot of questionable, dirty, or shocking plays in my time as a hockey fan.  Dirty hits, intentional slashes, diving, the list goes on and on.  However, I’ve never seen anything quite like what Ryane Clowe of the San Jose Sharks showed us on Thursday night.

With Jarret Stoll a step ahead of the San Jose defender, Ryane Clowe knocked the puck off of Stoll’s stick to avert a breakaway.  The thing is, Ryane Clowe was on the bench.  When I heard Jim Fox call it, I thought it may have been incidental.  A guy coming off the ice tipped the puck by accident.  Nope.  Ryane Clowe, stood up from the bench, reached over the boards, and stuck his stick on the ice, tapping the puck off Stoll’s stick.

I don’t know what penalty that even is.  Too many men?  Interference?  Misconduct?  I do, however, know that it’s not legal.  Not even close.  Otherwise there would probably be a few players doing that throughout the course of the game.

To me, that play is cowardly.  More cowardly than taking a swing at someone on the ice.  When you’re on the ice you know you’re going to have to pay for your actions.  You’re charged up with being in the play and sometimes your competitive spirit gets the best of you and you take a run at someone, or reach out to stop a breakaway.  But from the bench?  To stand up from the bench to do that is unconscionable.  How down must you be about your team’s ability to win to stoop so low?  How desperate must you be to do that?  It’s incredibly childish.

I should know.  I used to cheat at Battleship with my brother.  I would move the ships around so he couldn’t hit them, until one day he called almost every spot on the board and he knew something was up.  The jig was up.  However, I didn’t have a dozen cameras on me, four officials, and another team watching.  Oh, and I was 9 years old.

But really, where were those 4 officials?  It was clear as day that Clowe did this.  How do 4 officials miss that?  How does something so egregiously unfair go by without someone catching it?  How will the Sharks explain this?  How will Clowe explain this?  How will the referees explain this?  How will the NHL explain this?

Most importantly to Kings fans, how will the Kings respond to this?

Go Kings!

The Pacific Division is jam-packed right now.  Phoenix, Dallas, San Jose, and Los Angeles are all within a point of each other.  Depending on the last 4-5 games, each team has a chance to win the division or miss the playoffs.  So, understandably it’s nervous times for Kings fans.  

The Kings have 5 games left this season and their fate is completely in their own hands.  The Kings face Edmonton twice, Minnesota, and San Jose.  Both Minnesota and Edmonton are out of the hunt and are seriously banged up.  Of course the Kings should never discount any team and I’m sure Edmonton and Minnesota would love to play spoiler.

It will be crucial for the Kings to get fast starts in their remaining games in order to secure Ws.  The Kings record when trailing after a period or 2 is horrendous.  Scoring early helps and 60 minute efforts are a must.

You might have noticed by now that nothing I’m saying is profound or even interesting really.  It sounds like what players say in pre/post/mid-game interviews.  Honestly, that’s what it boils down to: the Kings have to play their best, most complete hockey of the season right now.  Their best player have to be their best players right now. 

The final two games of the season, both against San Jose, will be nerve wracking.  Going into those games with all 6 available points from Edmonton and Minnesota will take the edge off a little.  Like I said before, however, the Kings can’t be looking past the Oilers or Wild.

Go Kings!

The Kings have been getting a bit of luck lately.  Both Phoenix and San Jose have endured a spate of losses recently, helping out the Kings’ playoff hopes.  The Kings have been doing their share as well, winning 3 of 4 since the arrival of Jeff Carter.  However, the Kings do not have an easy schedule down the stretch and it will take a few different things coming together (in my opinion) for them to slide into a spot in the playoffs.  

Road Warriors: The Kings play 10 of their remaining 17 on the road.  Players talk about the road as a great way to build camaraderie and gel as a team.  Yet, the fact remains that the odds favor the home team and the Kings road record leaves something to be desired (13-10-8).  The Kings will have to buck the trend if they plan on playing some extra games.  And I don’t mean for the El Segundo Softball team.

Protect this house: With just 7 contests at home, the Kings will have to take as many of those games as possible.  The Kings home record (17-13-4) won’t be a good enough pace.  Overtime and shootout losses won’t do enough good at this point for the Kings to squeak in.  I just think about last season where the Kings had a 7 or so game home-stand and lost all but one.  Then I cry myself to sleep…

Unlucky at love: We all know about Dustin Penner’s unfortunate personal life, but perhaps as the old saying goes the Kings will be lucky at cards hockey.  The point of this very forced segue is that the Kings don’t have a lot of 4 point games to benefit their situation down the stretch.  Let’s make the dangerous assumption that the Ducks are too far behind to make it.  That would remove them from being a direct competitor for a playoff spot.  The real 4 point games are those against San Jose, Dallas, Phoenix, Chicago, Colorado, and Calgary.  Nashville and above are too far ahead.  The Kings have a total of 5 games against those opponents.  Out of 17, that’s not very many opportunities for a 4 point swing.  I’m sure the Kings are focusing on themselves, but their fans need to hope for some losses from the direct competition.

Shark hunters: 3 of those 5 games with 4 point implications are against the Sharks.  That’s a big chunk of points coming from a big division rival.  The Kings hold a record of 1-1-1 against the Sharks this season, so they aren’t outmatched.  The Sharks have been struggling down the stretch and made a swap with Colorado to get bigger and meaner at the trade deadline.  The Kings and Sharks haven’t seen each other since December, but we know the Sharks always come to play when it’s against the Kings.  Expect a strong effort from San Jose and predictable chants of “Beat L.A.” from their MIDI “Rock N’ Roll Part 2″ loving fans.

Quisp over at Jewels from the Crown predicted that 93 points might be enough to make it into the playoffs.  He said a record of 11-6-1 would do it for the Kings.  That was prior to the Kings victory over the Ducks, so make it 10-6-1.  Just judging from the scant number of overtime losses, it’s troublesome.  The Kings’ season pace suggests they will go 8-6-3 over their final 16 games.

I’ve said several times this season that the Kings habit of going into overtime will cost them.  If Quisp is right, the Kings will have to finish 2 of those games in regulation in order to reach the estimated number of points.  They’re close, but their season pace is not good enough alone.  They will have to be better.

Obviously this is a lot of prognosticating and teams go on hot and cold streaks throughout the season.  However, this is what we’re looking at.  These are the pertinent factors when it comes to the Kings’ chances of making the playoffs.  Get out your rosary beads, voodoo dolls, and shrunken heads.

Go Kings!