The Kings exited the Christmas break with a 12-4-2 record on the road, with fans feeling fairly good about their teams performance on the year.
Well forget all that now apparently. The Kings are terrible, and this five game losing streak will be the end of us. Fire everyone, trade the team, the end has come.
Seriously though the form coming out of the Christmas break, and even the game prior to that against Dallas, has been lackluster at times. The Kings were on the unlucky side of things against Nashville and Chicago, in which both games I felt the Kings played solid hockey but just couldn't muster the results. Then at other times it looked like shades of the old Kings, who couldn't score if their lives depended on it.
Last night, as the Kings took a nasty 5-0 beating at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, they wrapped up a four game winless road trip through the central, and continue to pile on losses to a now season-long five-game losing streak. Last night was truly the feather in the cap of an awful roadtrip. The team looked out of sorts defensively, offensively, and even the shine of heroic goaltenders was taken off considerably. Martin Jones gave up two goals on 14 shots, while Ben Scrivens had a rough outing in relief by giving up three goals on 12 shots.
The Kings again saw a troubling lack of discipline, giving the Blues five powerplay chances. Their opponents converted on two of those five. All five penalties were stick infractions, and three were in the offensive zone. Ouch.
Discipline, or lack thereof, is a trend that is honestly breaking the Kings. It is well documented that the team is amongst the most penalized teams in the league, but the penalty kill has remained top-10 (Which I touched on briefly in this blog.) It has been extreme feast or famine though when it comes to penalty killing when you break it down.
Against the Blues the Kings penalty killing allowed two goals on five powerplays. Against the Stars in Dallas they allowed two goals on five powerplays. Against Chicago they shutdown the Hawks with zero goals on three opportunities Against Nashville they allowed one goal on five powerplays Finally, against Dallas back at home on the 23rd of December, they allowed one goal on four attempts.
So on the five game skid, they allowed a total of six goals on 22 opposing powerplays. That's good enough for a whopping 72.7% kill rate. If they played the entire season with numbers like that they would be the worst penalty killing team in the league (NYI at 73.2% currently occupies 30th).
Regardless, the Kings are still the 9th overall PK team in the league with an 83.7% kill rate.
The Kings have lost 17 games this year, 13 in regulation, four in overtime/shootout.
Of the 13 regulation losses, nine of them have included a powerplay goals by the opponent. As a whole, in those losses, the Kings have allowed 14 powerplay goals on 56 attempts which is good enough for 75%. How good is a 75% kill rate? Third worst in the league.
Now You don't need me to sit here and tell you that the team that gives up powerplay goals and/or goals loses games. However, that's not the troubling trend I see. Penalties are going to happen. That is inevitability of playing a fast and emotional sport.
It's just baffling how up and down the team penalty killing is. When you take in the greater scope of the season. The Kings have given up a total of 27 power play goals. Again, They gave up 14 powerplay goals in their 13 losses this season alone on 56 attempts. The other times? The wins or OT/SO losses? Thirteen powerplay goals, in 29 games on 110 attempts, or in percentage terms, an 88% kill rate.
So what team shows up? The one with a 75% penalty killing rate? or an 88%? Looking at all of the penalty minutes, it's not like the take a significantly greater amount of penalties in losses compared to wins either (4.2 per game in L's, 3.8 in W's).
It is a scary thought that the penalty kill is so hit and miss, because in the playoffs that one minor penalty could break you. During the season you have the luxury of playing tomorrow or the next day, but when it comes to the playoffs do you really want to be giving teams four, five, or six powerplays a night?
Sutter just needs to sit them down and say the following:
It will be bad enough watching KISS play during the pregame but I really don't want to watch Getzlaf and Perry carry the Ducks to a 6-0 win with five powerplay goals (That's me being dramatic).
Also, no I'm not considering trading anyone........yet.
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