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After starting the season with two straight losses, the Los Angeles Kings have quickly rebounded to now hold a 4-2-2 record through their first eight games of the year.
While they may not have had a Vegas-level start (without a regulation loss in 10 games), the Kings have gotten results against a pretty high quality of competition so far. Especially considering how weak the Pacific Division has been so far this season, the strong start puts the Kings in a good spot out of the gate.
Looking at the major positive: with the team currently leading the league in goals per game, scoring obviously hasn’t been an issue. We saw it with their huge comeback against the Arizona Coyotes, where even when the Kings fell behind early, they do have the firepower to get themselves back into games.
As expected, one of the things the team has really benefited from is a deep forward group. At this point, 10 of the 11 forwards who have suited up for all eight games have at least four points in that span, and nine of them have scored at least two goals.
Anze Kopitar continues to avoid any sort of decline to this point, while Quinton Byfield looks like he may take the next step, especially following a really strong last few games. Meanwhile, Pierre-Luc Dubois with Kevin Fiala gives the team another line that’s capable of creating offense any time they hit the ice.
Meanwhile, Arthur Kaliyev has been a seamless fit on the Phillip Danault/Trevor Moore line, and the fourth line of Blake Lizotte, Carl Grundstrom and Trevor Lewis has the potential to be one of the best bottom lines in the NHL.
Perhaps the one area to improve in terms of scoring would be the power play, which ended up being such a positive for the team last season, but has only been okay so far this year. Operating at 16.7 percent, it’s still middle-of-the-pack amongst other teams in the league, but it hasn’t been a strength so far.
On the flip side, the Kings’ penalty kill has actually been quite a bit better than last year. Operating at 85.7 percent, the team’s PK ranks ninth in the NHL, a big step up from their 24th-place penalty kill from last year, which operated at just 75.8 percent.
Defensively, the Kings are in a much better situation than this time last year as well. Right now, the team has allowed the fewest high-danger chances against of any team in the NHL at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. The Mikey Anderson/Drew Doughty pairing specifically is off to an excellent start, though the team is still really relying on their top-four group, playing Andreas Englund and Jordan Spence in a pretty sheltered role.
Goaltending, as expected, has been a bit of a mixed bag. Pheonix Copley has really struggled in his limited action, allowing 11 goals on just 52 shots across three starts. That said, while Cam Talbot is holding just a .905 save percentage, I think he's been about as good as anyone could've expected. The team cheaped out on goaltending, but Talbot remains a big step up from the goaltending situation the Kings had to begin last season.
Despite this, the team has gone 4-1-1 across their last six games, with their only losses coming to the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and defending Presidents’ Trophy winners. Even without high-end goaltending, and missing a quality winger in Viktor Arvidsson, the team looks built to keep up with any team in the league.
Tonight, they’ll face the Toronto Maple Leafs to start a series of four straight road games, with the game against Toronto being another good test against a strong opponent.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Kings assign Brandt Clarke to AHL and extend McLellan, Kaliyev suspended
- Kings announce season-opening roster
- Kings fall to Avalanche in season opener
- Kings battle back against Hurricanes, lose in marathon shootout
- Pierre-Luc Dubois scores in return to Winnipeg, Kings earn first win
- Kings' offense stays hot in 7-3 win over Wild 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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