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The LA Kings will look to recover from their 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks this afternoon as they take on the San Jose Sharks on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Los Angeles has found themselves in a position where they go from looking ahead to try to catch the Vegas Golden Knights to looking behind them only to see the Calgary Flames pass them in the standings and the Sharks and Ducks on their tails.
What was a comfortable cushion to stay in the playoff bracket is now an all-out race.
Since the Kings won eight in a row back in December, they have since gone 4-6-2 in their last 12 games. This middling effort has allowed the teams behind them to get within shooting distance.
Compounding matters, after shutting out the Edmonton Oilers back on Jan 2, Jonathan Quick has allowed 11 goals in his last three games. This is highlighted by Saturday’s game where he allowed two soft, shortside goals to give the Ducks the early 2-0 advantage that the Kings were never able to climb out of.
With all of this said, this isn’t all doom and gloom for LA. At the start of the season if you were tell people that the Kings were going to be in the thick of the playoff race in mid-January, Kings fans would take it.
We’ve seen hot stretches from LA at different points in the season and know that they are more than capable of doing it again. When things have been going the Kings way, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Quick have been at a Hart, Norris, Vezina trophy level respectively. There’s only one or two other teams in the league that have three players like that.
Looking ahead at the Sharks game today, San Jose have also been average going into their five day CBA break. In their last 10 games the Sharks are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games with only two of those wins in regulation.
Their goaltending as well hasn’t been the greatest as Martin Jones has gone 2-3-1 during that stretch with a 2.99 GAA and .897 save percentage. Jones was pulled in the Sharks 6-5 overtime win after giving up three goals on six shots in the first period.
Jones has been confirmed as the starter for this afternoon’s game and will look to bounce back against the Kings.
This is now a true playoff race where the season could be on the line for Los Angeles. Kings fans can no longer take for granted that the playoffs will come at the end of the regular season so the cliché that the divisional games are key stand.
Outside of the Arizona Coyotes, all Pacific Division teams below the Kings in the standings are within 11 points. This means it isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility that if any of these teams get hot they can put some heat on the Kings to play consistently.
The bright side to all this is that with it being a race, this will make the stretch drive to close out the season that much more fun.