Kings enjoying roster depth rarely ever seen
ANAHEIM » These aren't your father's Kings, or even your older brother's.
Gone are the days of Terry Murray's bunch, with checkers up and down the lineup and a power play that had the line-up-andfire approach of 18th century British warfare. So are the “3-2 league” aphorisms as well as the accompanying nastiness in the corners from the Darryl Sutter era, and the dark days that followed are over, too.
Here is a moment of genuine offensive menace, of fluidity on the man advantage and of scoring balance seldom seen in the NHL's salary cap era.
“It says a lot about the organization and how they have built it up over the years. We've got a lot of competition up front right now,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
The Kings have scored 20 power play goals in their past 18 games dating to Dec. 29, including three Friday night in a 6-3 victory over the Ducks in Anaheim.
There, the Kings got goals at even strength from the third line, which followed one superb shift up with an even stronger effort to open the scoring and sealed the Ducks' fate with an empty-netter. And from the second line, whose members had combined for six points in a victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday. They also received a pair of power play goals from the top unit, scored by first-liners Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar, and another from Viktor Arvidsson and the secondary crew.
“I think the group is really tight right now; we're all happy that we're playing well,” said Kempe, while simultaneously acknowledging that abundant depth can lead to tough personnel decisions. “Whether you're in the lineup or you're not, I think everybody contributes, especially in the locker room.”
Kempe's six power play goals over that same span lead the way for the Kings. Where his quintet had been running almost even with the second unit, it has now scored 14 of the Kings' past 20 manadvantage markers, with the second grouping scoring twice to start that run and three times in the past two games.
That could level out anew, since Arthur Kaliyev recently rejoined the second unit after missing nearly two months with a lower-body injury. He tallied while a man up Monday and eight of his 10 goals this season have come on the power play.
Kempe overtook the team lead in goals from Gabe Vilardi, who returned to action Friday after more than a month on the shelf. So deep are the Kings that Vilardi, once their leading goal-scorer and a contributor to their top power play unit, skated on the fourth line.
“Gabe and Arthur, one has 17 and the other has 10 goals,” McLellan said. “If you want to call that our fourth line, that's where they're playing, but they both play significant and key roles on the power play.”
The Kings' leading scorer, Kevin Fiala, has become something of a fixture within the Kings' third trio, and he factored heavily into one goal and scored another Friday. Arvidsson, who scored twice Friday and was part of a youth movement that propelled the Nashville Predators to a surprise berth in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, credited the hunger of younger Kings making a push behind their established core.
“They're competitive and they want to take the next step. The depth is flowing through the whole team, everybody's competing hard and we all want to be on the ice,” Arvidsson said.