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Kings remain in a decent spot despite inconsistent play through October |
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The Los Angeles Kings closed out October with a back-to-back set this week, now holding a 6-3-2 record through 11 games.
On paper, it’s a pretty good spot to be, and they rank second in the Pacific Division in terms of points percentage.
But we also saw a lot of ups and downs for just the first month of the season, with the Kings often seeing little consistency from game to game. They got off to a worrisome start, suffering some high-scoring losses to the likes of Ottawa and Toronto, and even certain wins (Buffalo) made them look fortunate just to get out with two points.
Then when they'd built a bit of momentum with their wins in Montreal and Anaheim, they followed up with a blowout loss to Vegas. Even in their last two games, they had a really disappointing performance against San Jose, but then immediately rebounded to put together a solid win over the Golden Knights. It’s often tough to tell which team you’re going to get on any given night.
Offensively, the contributions have been a little mixed. Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe are leading the way as expected, but we’ve also seen others struggle to make an impact. Quinton Byfield is goalless with five points in 11 games, while Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore each have just three points. Meanwhile, Kevin Fiala has been benched, scratched for missing a team meeting, and his performance has been pretty mediocre at even strength (even if he was good upon returning against Vegas). Then while Tanner Jeannot may be a fine depth piece, he’s hardly proving to be worth the price the Kings paid to acquire him.
But on the flip side we’re also seeing what could be a breakout year from Alex Laferriere. The sophomore winger is leading the team with six goals, and he’s been one of the only forwards who can be counted on for game-to-game consistency. Alex Turcotte has also been a nice surprise, and his game away from the puck has improved to the point where he can be impactful even if he isn’t producing. Warren Foegele has also hit his stride a little over the last few games.
Defensively, the Kings’ performance has often been very mixed and sometimes unstructured, though that has as much to do with forwards not helping out as it does breakdowns from the defense group. Brandt Clarke has already been a standout, stepping in to help offset the loss of Drew Doughty on the right side, with 11 points in 11 games. Overall, the pairing between Clarke and Joel Edmundson has worked well. Meanwhile, Vladislav Gavrikov and Mikey Anderson have been counted on to really carry the load, spending some time as a pairing to take on a lot of the tougher matchups. Jordan Spence’s season has been a little more mixed, even if he’s been better as of late, but the Kings have basically ended up cycling through Kyle Burroughs, Andreas Englund and Caleb Jones to find a sixth defenseman.
In goal, Darcy Kuemper’s injury didn’t help, and David Rittich's play was a little all over the place. A lot of his tougher outings were realistically more on the team than him, but it’s a big help to have Kuemper back.
Moving into November, consistency is key for Los Angeles. They may have gotten the results through October, but looked pretty rough in about half of their 11 games to this point. They’ll play 14 games in November, with seven of them coming at home, but nine being played in California overall. The schedules includes no more than two road games in a row, and 10 of the 14 games come against teams who didn’t reach the playoffs last season.
Essentially, it’s going to be one of the easier months in terms of quality of competition and limited travel. It’ll serve as an opportunity to build some momentum, and hopefully start to generate a bit more consistency from game to game.
The Kings play their first game of November tomorrow afternoon, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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