After downing the Vegas Golden Knights on January 9th to start their road trip, the Kings took a nose dive and dropped the next four games - three of which they gave up four goals in.
Just going to jump around with a few high-level thoughts as they come to me while thinking back...
The road trip displayed the inconsistencies that have plagued LA this season. Perhaps the best example of this was the 4-3 loss to Florida in which the Kings laid dormant for the first 50 minutes, before turning it on and scoring three goals in a row within a matter of minutes, only to have the clock become their enemy. The irony is that this is a technique the Panthers have relied on heavily this season to defeat opponents.
While the Kings outshot Philly 35-26, last night’s loss to the Flyers showed a deficiency on LA’s backend. The defense (and Campbell) seemed to be scrambling around and out of position quite a bit throughout the game. Opposing players also gained an edge by floating into scoring areas untouched and sneaking in behind the defense to get positioning/disruption out front and look for redirects - especially on Philly’s Power Play.
Granted, PHI had a man advantage on these two goals, but look where LA’s defense is on both of them. Both goals allowed two Flyers players to setup at the goalmouth with no pushback.
The game in Carolina was a frustrating because after having a slow start, LA found their groove, but the Canes defense helping clean up rebounds/allowing Reimer to see shots all the way, combined with Reimer himself playing well, just stonewalled the Kings from finding the back of the net.
Add to that a couple posts and a missed open net from #8 and it was a tough 2-0 loss on another solid performance by a Kings goaltender.
Despite the outcome, those Whalers throwbacks are just too good...
The Tampa game started out great with the Kings going up two quickly, but the Lightning answered back just as quick.
Nothing worse than letting a team tie it up in the last minute or two of the third and that’s what happened in this one. To be fair, what can you do against that perfectly placed Kutcherov cannon off the draw?
I thought JQ looked great in this SO loss - even battling back to stay in the game after taking a nasty one-timer up high in the second.
Here’s to hoping the Kings get some revenge against those guys when they meet up after the (long) All-Star break.
2020 Stadium Series Threads
I’m surprised to be typing this, but I actually really dig these - minus the chrome bucket.
There is a great write up about the inspiration for the design of the P-51 inspired jerseys
here.
This video also gets me pumped on them!
Im hoping they’ll have some merchandise on sale soon for this, as I haven’t seen anything yet.
What do you guys think of the overall look?
Sitting in last place and month out from the deadline, here is something to start thinking about...I have to believe Toffoli is increasing his value on a number of teams radars. Hoping he creates a little bit of a bidding war and someone throws in a little extra for him.
_______________________
Thanks guys.
Go Kings Go!
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»