Kings, 8th in West standings, need not panic
The Kings are in familiar territory, whether they like it or not. And they probably don’t. Sitting eighth in the West before they host the Sharks on Saturday to start the post-holiday portion of the schedule, the Kings are where they finished in 2012 before winning a Stanley Cup. And they are one spot in the standings away from not making the playoff field.
It’s as if the Kings have been able to flip a switch the second half the past couple of seasons, especially last season when they won a second Cup in three seasons after searching their lineup for goal-scoring for much of the regular season.
What’s different this time is what they’re asking of their defense, namely Drew Doughty. Los Angeles’ play on the blue line is the under-publicized key to the team’s success since Darryl Sutter took over as coach during the 2011-12 season.
Injury and unforeseen challenges have put the Kings in a bind on the back line. Veteran Robyn Regehr is on injured reserve with a fractured finger, the second time he’s been sidelined this season. A broken thumb kept the vastly improved Jake Muzzin out for a portion of the first month.
And the biggest void is the absence of suspended Slava Voynov, who is due to stand trial on a felony domestic violence charge that dates to the third week of the season.
Every healthy defenseman has been asked to step up, even with the addition of Brayden McNabb, but no one more than Doughty. The 25-year-old winner of two Cups and two Olympic gold medals is the only non-goalie in the NHL with more than 1,000 minutes (1,021) logged already.
Doughty is averaging 29 minutes, 10 seconds of ice time in L.A.’s first 35 games. His career-high average of 26:24 came during the lockout-shortened campaign of 48 games in 2012-13. Yes, that’s the only year in the last three the Kings failed to win a Cup.
If Doughty was possibly overworked then, how about now when he’s averaging three more minutes on a nightly basis? So far, so good. Doughty is on the plus side of the ledger (plus-4) to go with his three goals and 20 points.
Still, there’s a long way to go and Doughty is facing the biggest challenge of his seven-year career. It figures to be quite a ride. Somehow, the Kings have to feel good about it with Doughty behind the wheel. Parity reigns: As the NHL comes out of the break with 42 percent of the season’s schedule played, nearly half of the teams in the league are separated by only 10 points. Twelve teams are packed between the league-leading Ducks (51 points) and No. 14 Kings (41). The Sharks are 11th overall and have as many or more home games remaining than every team in that group except Nashville and Vancouver, which have one more apiece. O Canada: The last time the Oilers had only seven wins by Christmas was 1979-80, their first season in the NHL. Conversely, the Maple Leafs have reached 20 wins before Santa’s visit for the first time since 2003-04. Powerful viewing: Chalk it up to eerie irony that EPIX would tape an interview with Clint Reif just days before the Blackhawks’ 34-year-old assistant equipment manager suddenly died. The tragedy and resulting reaction from Chicago coach Joel Quenneville serve as a final scene in EPIX’s second installment leading up to the Hawks facing the host Capitals in this New Year’s Winter Classic. Slap shots: Keep an eye on the Wild, who limped into the holiday break with four straight losses, the last two of which featured brief playersonly meetings afterward. … Joe Pavelski’s power-play goal Monday not only gave him the league lead with nine, but also enabled the Sharks’ forward to move to No. 2 on the team’s all-time goal-scoring list with 207, one more than Owen Nolan. Patrick Marleau is tops with 444. … The Devils axing Pete DeBoer on Friday makes it three coaches fired in three weeks. New Jersey is expcted to name a replacement Saturday.