We have yet to see an all-around good game from the Los Angeles Kings this season. Yet to see a full 60-minute performance, and yet to see a game won in regulation. There’s nothing more to say other than it has been a horrific 1-3-1 start for a group that is hoping to take that next step this season.
“We’re in a hole, we’re in a funk. There’s no question,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said post-game.
The Kings certainly didn’t look like they were in a funk when they came out in the first against the Pittsburgh Penguins, getting on the board twice in the first 10 minutes of the period. Warren Foegele looked a lot more like himself, sticking with it, burying his second opportunity to open the scoring. Not long after, the “Byfield line,” which once again featured newcomer Joel Armia, connected on what had to have been the best play we have seen so far from start to finish. Armia broke up a play at the Kings’ blue line before setting up a tic-tac-toe play that hit Quinton Byfield and then Kevin Fiala for a tap-in at the far post.
Picture perfect passing pic.twitter.com/j7qD7GpVed
— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 17, 2025
“It was a really nice goal, and probably the key part of that goal was Armia,” Hiller said. “As he came to the blue line, he pulled the puck in and just delayed enough, allowed himself to create a little space and time to get the puck over to Byfield, who made a great pass, of course, to Kevin at the back post.”
It was perhaps the most connected the Kings looked all season. That’s the thing, though…there have been pockets where the Kings look great, with specific players who have looked spectacular in particular moments. As a team, as a collective, though, they just can’t seem to figure it out long enough for it to matter. Consistency in what makes the Kings successful has been scarce, but it’s still early, and no one is rushing to hit that panic button just yet.
“We’re a confident group. We have shown that we can have really good periods, and then for whatever reason, it just gets away from us,” Trevor Moore said when asked what the vibe of the team is right now. “We just got to put it all together, and we will, it’s still early in the year, can’t panic yet, but we’ll be fine.”
The Kings will figure it out eventually. They have a roster strong enough to turn this ship around, but the question is, when? If not against a Penguins team projected to be in the conversation for Gavin McKenna in July, then when?
Kings Can’t Stay Out of Their Own Way
It’s been more of the Kings killing themselves than being killed by other teams, and a lot of it has to do with their lack of discipline. They came into last night’s game being the third-most penalized team in the NHL, and while the amount of trips to the penalty box was severely cut against the Penguins, it was a Byfield hook early on in the second period that ended up completely altering the direction of a game in which the Kings had a 2-0 lead.
Evgeni Malkin surprised Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg in his second start of the season with a shot from the left circle on the power play that beat him five-hole. Forty-one seconds later, Connor Dewar beat Forsberg on another weak attempt, tying the game at two. All three Penguins’ goals were ones Forsberg should have had no problem with. Just like that, the Kings’ lead had vanished, and so did their ability to find the back of the net again.
It’s one thing not to have the penalty kill going, which it hasn’t been for a Kings team that has the fifth-worst kill percentage, but it’s another when those struggles are combined with a horrendous power play as well. Not only was it impossible for the Kings to set up the power play or even gain the zone to do so, but it was so dysfunctional that it allowed the Penguins a 2-on-1 opportunity shorthanded, which eventually resulted in Filip Hallander jamming one in for his first career goal to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead early in the third.
“Tonight was probably our worst night of entering the zone and getting control,” Hiller said of the power play. “Particularly on the one in the third period, where really, that’s a time when you got a chance to get yourself back in and win the hockey game, and we didn’t get that done.”
If there’s one positive element to the Kings’ game that they can be somewhat happy about so far, it’s their play 5-on-5. For the last seven goals they have allowed over the past two games, only one has been at even strength. They haven’t given much up 5-on-5, which stresses the importance of staying out of the box even more. Special teams is the one area you can confidently say has been a nightmare for the Kings, and has played the biggest part in their struggles.
“We haven’t won the special teams battle yet this season,” Hiller said. “That’s an important part of any hockey game is the special teams battle. Hard to win if you don’t win the special teams battle.”
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The Kings had their chances; in fact, they had more than enough to score two goals. Unfortunately for them, a combination of hitting posts, missing the net, and Arturs Silovs, who made 30 saves, stopped that from happening. Byfield had two point-blank chances after his penalty in the second, Alex Laferriere found himself on a partial breakaway shorthanded in the third, and the third line of Foegele, Moore, and Alex Turcotte, who was promoted with Anze Kopitar out with injury, was creating chances all game, leading the Kings in scoring chances for, high-danger scoring chances for, and expected goals for. It’s a matter of just finding a way to get one of those to go. Creating chances does nothing if you can’t convert on them.
“I thought we had a lot of chances. I really think the puck’s going to start going in for us and we’re going to start feeling better, but at the same time we’ve got to bear down on our chances,” Moore said.
Things don’t get any easier for the Kings, who welcome the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. A win against the red-hot Hurricanes would do wonders for their confidence and inject some light into a team that could really use a spark to get things rolling.
