Kings look to get right as they hit the road to play six games
Mired in a three-loss rut, the Kings embarked on a six-game East Coast road trip that would bring them up to what would have been the Olympic break before the NHL and NHLPA withdrew from participation in the games.
They’ll start off with backto-back matches against the New Jersey Devils today and the New York Rangers on Monday. The Kings beat New Jersey in overtime on Nov. 5 and bottled up the Rangers’ offense in a 3-1 victory on Jan. 10.
Entering Saturday, the Kings sat in third place in the Pacific Division, where five points separated four teams in positions two through six and three through seven alike. After this six-game trip — which will also take them to Long Island, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit — the Kings will not play again until Feb. 15. They have only three postponed games to make up during the wouldhave-been Olympic pause.
So is this eastern swing pivotal, critical or some other dramatic adjective?
“The next game is the key one; that’s all we’re looking at,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “(Scheduling) doesn’t matter. We’re going to play 41 games at home, we’re going to play 41 games on the road, and we’ve got to play them all.”
McLellan later said that the team was “going nowhere” if its performance on special teams did not improve. The Kings’ power-play converts at the 24th best rate among 32 NHL teams. Their penalty kill is tied with the lowly Arizona Coyotes for 29th in terms of percentage, ahead of only the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks, neither of whom would qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today. It has surrendered five goals in its last 11 short-handed situations, and four in its last seven.
“I think a big part of special teams, and you can’t see it anywhere on paper, is confidence,” team captain Anze Kopitar said. “Sometimes, on the PK, when you give up a few goals you aren’t obviously as confident, not as aggressive. You’re not doing the things you would normally do with a little bit more ease and a little bit more patience.”
During the trip, fans can expect to see leading goalscorer and All-Star selection Adrian Kempe rejoin the team, though it’s unclear exactly how soon he will exit COVID-19 protocols. Injured winger Andreas Athanasiou, who last played Dec. 14 and has competed in just 11 games this season, has been on the mend. Both players should be considered questionable for today’s game.
Another potential gamechanger for the Kings came
Today: Kings at Devils, 4 p.m., BSW
in the form of center Quinton Byfield. He saw 5:15 of power-play time out of 15 minutes of action in season debut, a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Byfield, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft and one of five top-two selections in Kings franchise history, said he felt more comfortable on the ice than he did during his six-game cup of coffee last season.
This year, the 19-year-old excited fans in the preseason before sustaining a broken ankle, enduring nearly three months recuperating, heading back to the minor leagues, spending a stretch in COVID-19 protocols and finally returning to the NHL level on Thursday.
“Definitely a lot of ups and downs this year,” Byfield said. “Getting hurt in the preseason was definitely a setback. It wasn’t a great feeling, obviously, being out of hockey in general for two and a half, three months. So I was really excited to get back. The COVD-19 setback as well definitely sucked, but I’ve still got a lot of career ahead of me; there’s definitely adversity you’ve got to go through.”
Against New Jersey and the Rangers, there will be no shortage of other hot prospects on the ice. The Devils boast two former No. 1 overall picks, centers Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, both of whom have developed into cornerstone players with long-term contracts. Hughes has been a pointper-game producer, rapidly realizing his potential despite some injury setbacks early in his career.
Ironically, New Jersey’s leading scorer, forward Jesper Bratt, was a sixth-round pick. But the last-place Devils have backup en route: 2020’s seventh overall pick Alexander Holtz has been dominant at the American Hockey League level and Hughes’ brother Luke has turned in a fabulous freshman campaign for the University of Michigan.
The Rangers are further along in their rebuild, having jockeyed around the top spots in the Metropolitan Division for much of the season. Though they have the player taken ahead of Byfield, forward Alexis Lafreniere, as well as Byfield’s predecessor at No. 2, Kaapo Kakko, those two have had limited roles in the Rangers’ resurgence.
Defenseman Adam Fox, a former third-round pick now with his third NHL organization, and winger Artemi Panarin, who was undrafted prior to establishing himself as a star in his native Russia, continue to drive play and produce copiously for the Rangers.