The Week That Was
The Kings had one’s all around this past week as they went 1-1-1 in their three games. Now with a record of 6-3-3, the Kings continue to hold onto the Pacific Division’s second best record. The week began with a disappointing loss in San Jose after falling to close out the game in which they held a one-goal lead twice. The bad taste in their mouth was quickly washed away as just 24 hours later, the Kings played their best game of the season and doubled up the Pacific Division’s top team, the Vegas Golden Knights 6-3. Riding high after their dominant victory over the Golden Knights, that feeling too was short lived. The Kings closed out the weekend with another blown lead against one of the conference’s worst teams, falling in a shootout on homie ice to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Game Recaps:
Notable News From The Week That Was:
- We had a four-way tie atop the Kings scoring leaders this past week as Alex Laferriere (4-0=4), Anze Kopitar (1-3=4), Kevin Fiala (1-3=4) and Brandt Clarke (0-4=4) all had four points across the three games.
- Alex Laferriere’s four-goal gives him sole possession of the team lead in that category. Seven of Laferriere’s eight goals this season have come at even strength, which ranks second in the NHL, trailing only Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s eight EVG.
- Kopitar continues to lead the Kings in scoring with 13 points (4-9=13) in 12 games.
- Darcy Kuemper continues to help the Kings earn points in the standing as he is still without a regulation loss this season. Kuemper is 3-0-3.
- The Kings power play went 2-for-10 in the three games and ranks 22nd in the NHL (16.7%).
- The Kings penalty went 8-for-9 across the three games and also ranks 20th in the NHL (77.1%).
The Week That Is
The Kings have their second four-game slate of the season ahead them this coming week. The week begins with a pair of back-to-back games on the road against two yet-to-be-seen Central Division opponents, followed the Kings returning to LA and finishing the week with a pair of home games; one against a division rival and the other against an Eastern Conference team exceeding expectations.
The week begins in Nashville on Monday as the Kings will face the Predators who have rebounded nicely after an extremely disappointing start. The Predators began the season 0-5-0, but have since gone 4-1-1 with notable wins over the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche. There was lots of hype surrounding the Predators after an active offseason that saw them sign two of the NHL’s top free agents. After 16 seasons with the Lightning, Steven Stamkos was pushed out of Florida and subsequently inked a four-year, $32M ($8M AAV) deal with Predators. Also not invited back to his former team on an expiring contract last season was Jonathan Marchessault, the Golden Knights all-time leader in games played (514), goals (192), assists (225), points (417), power-play goals (42), game-winning goals (32) and hat tricks (5). Open to sign anywhere, Marchessault chose Nashville and signed a five-year, $27.5M ($5.5M AAV) deal. Through 11 games, Stamkos has notched five points (2-3=5) and Marchessault has totaled seven points (2-5=7). One area the Predators have been elite all season is on the penalty kill. They rank first in the NHL with a 91.0% kill rate and successfully killed off 21 of their last 22 times they’ve been shorthanded.
One night later, the Kings travel north to the State of Hockey and face the red hot Minnesota Wild. The Wild hold the second best points percentage in the NHL (.818%) and are one of two teams in the league (Winnipeg Jets) that have lost only one game in regulation. Currently 8-1-2, the Wild are led by early Hart Trophy candidate Kirill Kaprisov. Worth noting, Kaprisov just had a seven-game multi-point streak (6-11=17) snapped on Sunday. Kaprisov is currently in a three-way tie for the NHL’s lead in scoring with 21 points (7-14=21) in 11 games and his +12 ranks second in the NHL. On the other end of the ice, the Wild have been stingy defensively. Ranking fourth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.45), a large part of that is because of starting goalie Filip Gustavsson’s bounce back season. Gustavsson has allowed two goals or less in six of his eight games and ranks in the top-10 in GAA (2.12) and SV% (.924%). This game will conclude the Kings third set of 13 back-to-back’s this season and they are currently 2-0-0 on the second half of the of the back-to-back so far.
The Kings travel back to LA after the Wild game and will play in their sixth divisional game of the season when they host last year’s Pacific Division winning Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Both teams are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and like the Kings, the Canucks are without one if their best players in all-star goalie Thatcher Demko. Demko started the season on IR with his lingering knee injury and currently has no timetable to return. In his place, the Canucks has have had two very different types of performances based on who has played. In his first season with the Canucks, Kevin Lankinen is 5-0-2 and has a .919 SV%, while Arturs Silovs has appeared in three games this season and is 0-2-0 with a 5.00 GAA. Who will the Kings see? Only time will tell. As for their skaters, last year’s Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes is off to his typical impressive start and is in a four-way tie for the team lead in scoring with nine points (2-7=9) in his first 10 games. Also with nine points are Brock Boeser (5-4=9), Connor Garland (3-6=9) and JT Miller (5-4=9). One player the Canucks camp has to be concerned about is the man who’s eight-year, $92.8M ($11.6M AAV) extension just kicked in this season. Elias Pettersson has four points (1-3=4) in 10 games and ranks tied for sixth on the Canucks in shots with 15.
The final game of the week comes on Saturday in another earlier than normal weekend start at 6:00 PM. The Kings will face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first of two times this season and will meet them as they play in their third game of a five-game road trip that began all the way across the country in Washington D.C. The Blue Jackets currently sit at 5-5-1 and after putting together a four-game point streak (3-0-1) to end October, have dropped their first two games in November by a combined score of 13-4. The Kings will need to wary of their second Kirill of the week as Kirill Marchenko currently leads the Blue Jackets in scoring with 12 points (4-8=12) in 11 games this season. Also producing offensively is first-year Blue Jacket and 12-year NHL veteran Sean Monahan. Monahan, who publicly spoke about one of his reasons for coming to Columbus being to reunite with his former Calgary Flames linemate and good friend, the late Johnny Gaudreau is playing with a heavy heart this season. Off to a great start as the team’s top center, Monahan has notched 11 points (6-5=11) in 11 games. Defensively speaking, the Blue Jackets captain Zach Werenski is also notably off to the best start of his career. Coming off of a career-best 57-point year (11-46=57) last season, Werenski is on pace to surpass those numbers with nine points (3-6=9) in 11 games to begin this season. Finally, having had multiple non-playoff contending seasons in their recent history, the Blue Jackets have had multiple top end draft picks as of late. Those draft picks are now starting to emerge into the Blue Jackets lineup in significant roles as a pair of first-round draft picks in linemates Cole Sillinger (2-6=8) and Adam Fantilli (3-3=6) are now occupying the second line consistently.
Upcoming games and events this week:
- 11/4 @ Nashville Predators @ 5:00 PM (FanDuel Sports Network)
- 11/5 @ Minnesota Wild @ 5:00 PM (FanDuel Sports Network)
All Kings games can be heard on the ESPN LA App.
