For King fans it was a sight as rare as the Aurora Borealis or the Sasquatch. The Kings scored an unprecedented six goals, four unanswered, to beat the avalanche 6-4 at Pepsi Center on the first game back after the Olympics.
If you aren't a Kings fan I know you are saying to yourself, "Big deal, six goals."
If you are a Kings fan though you are grinning from ear to ear.
The team have scored six or more only twice this season, the last time in Montreal on December the 10th. Before that they won a wild 7-4 game against the Coyotes on October the 24th.
It isn't just about a season long stat though, it's about the more recent struggles on the offensive side of the puck. In the month of January the team scored a total of 24 goals in 15 games. That's right. A 1.6 goals for average over the course of a month. So six goals in one game...well...that's something.
Kopitar, fresh off a stellar Olympics with shock performers Slovenia, had a three point night and now has seven points in his last three games. Natural born sniper Robyn Regehr scored to make it goals in back to back games. This is the first time Regehr has...wait for it....EVER had goals in back to back games. Even Regehr is still getting firsts after 1,002 games.
Quick was given the night off and made way for Martin Jones who had not won a game since December 21st against the Avalanche funny enough. While an .862 save percentage and 4 goals against on 29 shots don't seem strong from a fantasy approach, Jones made several key stops to preserve the game late in the third including this 10-beller on Landeskog:
Jarret Stoll, Justin Williams, and Jeff Carter all got on the board to break extended goalless streaks. Williams had not scored in 14 games, Stoll in 15, and Carter 8.
However, there was bad in this game as well. A lot of it to be honest. The shine of a victory can make you lose sight of a lot of bad things.
The Kings penalty kill. Ugh. The Avalanche went 3-for-5 on the powerplay and had a number of glorious opportunities that weren't converted on as well. The Avalanche for some reason were able to exploit the Kings defense on a number of occasions in and around the slot. Quite simply the Avalanche dominated the house and were able to get several forwards isolated in the slot too many times for the Kings' coaching staff to be happy.
Here is a good representation of some of the Avs opportunities:
It also was never more apparent to me than in this game...the Kings need a defender before the deadline.
While many are concerned about the scoring, particularly at the wing, the defense looks overmatched at times. Part of this does have to do with Voynov having a down year, and Muzzin still learning the NHL game to an extent. However, the speed of the Avalanche completely blew away the King defenders, and the likes of Regehr, Greene, and Mitchell were left dead in the water at times. The addition of a more mobile shutdown defenseman could help the Kings deal with the likes of the Avalanche, Blackhawks, or Ducks who play a relatively fast game compared to them.
Speaking of defenseman, Muzzin continues to see a cut in his ice time. He was again around the 16 minute area, down from around 20 earlier in the season. He played a stronger game tonight in my opinion, and hopefully the lesser amount of minutes has it's benefits in the long term. I still feel the kid gets far too much hate.
Vey, Pearson, and Toffoli all played in the same game for the first time since November 23rd. Again, strangely enough it was against Colorado (What's the deal with that....). Pearson and Vey each finished with around nine and a half minutes of ice time, while Toffoli notched two assists in 15 minutes.
Overall it was one of the more exciting games I've seen the Kings play. A little more wide open then I am used to, but the goal scoring is definitely a nice thing to see. Now if only the Kings could get the defense shored up and fix the penalty kill. Clearly by this point the fact that they are the most penalized team in the league is not an anomaly. The penalties are going to happen, they just have to kill them a little bit better.
Oh and Clifford and Martinez were benched.
Clifford, Martinez and a 1st for EVERYONE. Go.
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I teased it once or twice, but the finalized mid-season list for the Kings top-20 prospects has been released.
For those who don't know I also contribute over at Hockey's Future as the Kings prospect writer along with a few other things here and there. The top-20 list is compiled twice a year before the season and just after the halfway point of the NHL season.
The Kings pre-season list for the 2013-14 season can be
found here.
See how that compares to the latest one we posted this week right
right here!
The Kings have had some amazing seasons from a lot of different prospects, and the King pipeline is much deeper and talented than a lot of people think. There were big changes, and welcomed ones. That includes Nikolai Prokhorkin playing extremely well in Russia and Jordan Weal having an outstanding sophomore season in the AHL.
I'd love to hear the feedback on the list either on twitter or in the comment section and will gladly answer any questions.
Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL
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