It’s tough to remain calm and positive when the same story with the same ending seems to be on repeat, especially when the story isn’t a happy one. Following another overtime loss, this time at the hands of the Pacific Division leaders, the Vegas Golden Knights, it’s getting to a point where it’s difficult for the Los Angeles Kings to hide the level of frustration and agitation they are undoubtedly feeling.
“It is really frustrating when you come out on the bottom of all these games where I feel like we’re playing well and we’re playing good enough to win,” Adrian Kempe said following the loss. “I can only speak for myself, but it’s extremely frustrating when you don’t get points. Especially the two points, you know, we got one tonight, which is okay but it’s been a lot of games where we come out with zero. It’s frustrating, that’s all I can say.”
Throughout the rocky season that has seen many, many games follow the same path as the one last night, the effort from players and head coach Jim Hiller to remain level-headed and answer questions in a positive way started to slip. Last night was really the first time there was some real honesty about how the team is feeling, along with noticeable frustration.
“They’re playing nose to nose with the best teams in the NHL,” Hiller said. “As difficult as it is, as emotional as it is, they are right there, so it sucks, it’s not an easy game. Emotions go up and down, and obviously, we haven’t done enough to earn it, but they shouldn’t feel bad about themselves.”
Being “Right There” Isn’t Enough Right Now
Despite feeling good about the way they have been playing recently and believing that they’re playing the right way, the results aren’t following. It’s one thing not to play well and understand why losses are piling up, but right now, the Kings don’t seem to have a ton of answers for their lack of results.
“It’s tough to say. I mean if we knew we would have done something different,” Kempe said. “I think we’re doing the right things still, pretty happy with the effort…hard to say exactly what’s not working, but clearly it’s something that’s not going right for us.”
It was another abysmal play that decided the game for the Kings in overtime. Just a few games ago, it was Kempe with a no-look drop pass that was picked up by Macklin Celebrini, which resulted in the Sharks winning the game seconds later. Last night, it was Kevin Fiala attempting to go through all three Golden Knights just inside the blue line that ended up with Mark Stone finishing off the game less than 30 seconds into overtime. When you play a lot of one-goal games and overtime games, the margin for error becomes ever so small, and for the most part, this season, the Kings have managed to end up on the wrong side of it.
Having won just five of their last 17 games and seeing themselves slowly drop in the standings to a point where they are no longer in a playoff spot, despite playing in the worst division in hockey, nothing is more important than finding a way to pick up two points on any given night.
“There’s a lot of hockey left, and there’s no question we’re going to have to get on a roll to make some points up. But I’m really confident that we will if we (continue to) play like that,” Hiller said.
The Kings have dropped some crucial games over the past week, leaving a lot of points on the table, and have faced the consequences of falling out of a playoff spot. Collecting loser points will no longer be enough to stay afloat, even in the Pacific, and that’s something everyone understands as the Kings gear up for two huge games, back-to-back, against an Anaheim Ducks team that is 1-8-1 in their last 10 games and sits just two points back of the Kings.
“We need points. We need to get on a run, and I understand it’s Anaheim, it’s going to be extra emotion, it’s going to be exciting…but I think it’s pretty clear. We need two points,” Hiller said.
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Every team needs points; that’s the number one goal for every team in the NHL. It’s how you go about trying to collect those points or figuring out what you need to change when things don’t seem to be going your way. For Hiller, it’s sticking with it and hoping things change. They are so confident in the way they are playing that they expect things to improve for the better at some point.
“The standard is to try and go out there and play as best you can and at the highest level you can. That’s the standard for any team,” Hiller said. “I like how close our players are getting to that standard right now. Ultimately, we will get judged on how many points we finish with and where we finish in the standings, but my job is to try and get them to the top, and then we have to take the results…Lots of different things could happen during the course of a year, but if we play like this, those good things will come our way. I’m extremely confident about it.”
It’s an interesting quote from Hiller because it opens the door to a discussion of whether or not this group is even a playoff-caliber team. Yes, making the playoffs was something that was expected before the season started but if Hiller truly believes that his team is so close to playing at the highest level possible even though they have the second-lowest amount of regulation wins, are tied for the fourth-lowest amount of wins in general, and rank dead last in goals for at 5-on-5, than maybe there needs to be a conversation of whether or not it’s simply a personnel issue.
Everyone knows the issues that the Kings are facing. They can’t score. They can’t create enough high-danger chances. They have a hard time generating anything off the rush because of a clear lack in puck moving ability from their back end. They haven’t been able to bear down on the chances they do create. The power play can’t seem to figure it out. There’s only truly one line deployed regularly as of late that has been dangerous, and that’s Fiala, Alex Turcotte, and Andrei Kuzmenko. It’s a combination of things that have led to an abysmal offensive output, and it’s not only led to the lack of results, but also to a level of frustration that the Kings can no longer disregard.
As Hiller said, there’s only so much they can do before they ultimately have to accept the results, and if the highest standard of the 2025-26 Kings is scoring two or fewer goals a game and scraping by with overtime losses, then playoffs might not be an achievable feat.
There’s still about half a season left to play and more than enough time for the Kings to string some wins together, which could propel them back into a top-three spot in the Pacific, but it’s getting to a point where they either need to start reeling in the points or accept the fact that this isn’t their year.
