The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Kings come off sluggish loss with back-to-back road games
Seeking to re-establish rhythm after a long break and a mentally sluggish loss Tuesday, the Kings will hit the road on backto-back nights, visiting the Vegas Golden Knights tonight and the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Tuneup periods, from training camp to the Olympic break, have often afforded Todd Mclellan and his staff time to refine special teams and implement new wrinkles into the power play and penalty kill. Out of 32 franchises, the Kings rank 28th in powerplay percentage and 29th on the penalty kill this season. The four teams behind them in power-play conversation rate have all lost any aspirations they had for the postseason.
Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, in which Mclellan said his team was “out-momented” at pivotal points in the match, saw the Kings improve on the penalty kill but come up empty repeatedly on the power play.
“The power play wasn’t quite as sharp as it needed to be. I’ve been saying that for a while but we had opportunities,” Mclellan said. “We slowed it down a little bit, individuals who normally would shoot the puck were looking for passes, so it’s still a work in progress, but the penalty kill did a good job against a good power play.”
Since Jan. 7, the Kings have converted on 11.9% of their power plays, the thirdlowest rate in the NHL. Arizona, whom they will play Saturday and again on Feb. 23, has the worst percentage with a miserable 4.6% clip over the same span.
Mclellan said while penalty killing was often a question of determination and effort, addressing the power play’s performance would require an entirely different approach.
“The power play has to be a lot more precise. One guy can kind of get the penalty kill done in certain situations. One guy can’t get the power play done, it’s the collaboration of all five,” Mclellan said.
The Kings (24-17-7) are locked into a three-way points tie with Edmonton and the Ducks. Sitting above those three teams are the Golden Knights (28-18-3). They have slipped from their perch atop the Pacific, a division they won twice in their first three seasons in the NHL, as Darryl Sutter’s Calgary Flames have won eight consecutive games.
Vegas fell to Colorado 2-0 on Wednesday, despite the debut of Jack Eichel. The center, who spent nearly a year away from NHL ice due to a neck injury, was acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres earlier this season. He played less than 16 minutes and had a largely unremarkable game following his extended absence. Vegas will need production from him in the near future, particularly with top-line winger Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve with a nebulous back injury.
Vegas was also without starting goalie Robin Lehner, who was last seen in net during a Feb. 9 blowout loss to Calgary. Former Kings defenseman Alec Martinez has not played since Nov. 11. Martinez sustained a severe facial laceration from a skate that required more than 100 stitches. Martinez sustained a similar injury, that time to his wrist, in 2019 as a member of the Kings.
Arizona, on the other hand, is neither poring over the standings nor pondering the playoffs. Its .292 points percentage and negative-72 goal differential are both the worst in the Western Conference.
Only the disastrous campaign of the Montreal Canadiens, who played in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, has produced inferior marks in those categories.
The Coyotes (12-32-4) were winless in their first 11 games and have captured consecutive contests just twice this season. They also concluded a protracted conflict with the city of Glendale over their arena lease. They are now headed, temporarily, for Arizona State’s new facility, which seats a meager 5,000 fans.
Prior to the season, the Coyotes had a roster purge that saw both of their goalies depart along with former team captain Oliver Ekman-larsson and promising forward Conor Garland.
They had forfeited their first-round pick, and though they received another high pick and cap flexibility in return for Ekman-larsson and Garland, their top-level roster was weakened significantly.