After losing a game they dominated on Saturday (Nov. 2), the Los Angeles Kings came back with the same type of performance playing the way they wanted to play, allowing them to get past the Nashville Predators 3-0. As solid as the Kings played, the Predators were all over the place, clearly not playing very well and it was evident in the amount of shots they had, how much time they spent in the offensive zone, and obviously the fact that they couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Kings did everything they needed to do to pick up a win and one of the most noticeable things throughout the game was how many times they were able to turn the puck over. They made it extremely difficult for the Predators to break the puck out and connect on clean passes throughout the neutral zone. There was a constant hound for a puck from the Kings and it resulted in a lot of very good looks for them the other way, including their second goal of the game.
A Few Key Players Continue to Drive the Offense
Five of the top six point-getters for the Kings so far landed on the scoresheet again. These have been the players this group has relied on to generate their offense for most of the 13 games and last night was another one of those games where they got the job done. The never-aging Anze Kopitar opened the scoring with his fifth of the season on a weird goal, bouncing it off the back of Predators goaltender Juuse Saros from behind the net. Kevin Fiala who has really made an impact since his benching/scratching last week contributed with his sixth of the season. Brandt Clarke who now has 12 points in 13 games picked up another assist. Phillip Danault who has just started to come alive and has the sixth most points on the team also had an assist, as well as Adrian Kempe who is tied with Clarke for the second most points.
Kuemper Did His Job
Darcy Kuemper didn’t have a very good ending to the game against the Chicago Blackhawks but head coach Jim Hiller opted to get him right back in the net last night. It’s interesting because the Kings play a stronger Minnesota Wild team tonight in which you could assume that David Rittich gets the start.
It was another outing where Kuemper didn’t get that much action but again he had to make a few timely saves early. Although he hasn’t been excellent to start the season, one thing about Kuemper throughout these 13 games has been his ability to come up big early and allow the Kings to settle into the game and be able to keep his team from playing from behind as much as possible. He finished the night stopping all 16 Predators shots for his 32nd career shutout and fourth as a King.
The Power Play Can’t Convert
The power play has been something that has been a topic of concern since the start of the season with it currently operating at a 16.7% success rate. Last night, once again, the power play had multiple opportunities to convert but it ended up going 0/4. It makes it worse when the Kings have the third most power play opportunities per game in the league with 3.54 yet their success rate is atrocious. In a game where their opponent was nowhere near their best, converting on the power play at least once should have been possible.
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The first unit actually had a few good looks but the second unit had a tough time generating anything substantial. With the amount of skill the Kings have and can place throughout two powerplay units, it may be time for the coaching staff to consider juggling them up to see if there is a combination that can start capitalizing on the many opportunities this Kings team seems to be given.
The same performance up and down the lineup will be needed again tonight as the Kings get set to face the 8-1-2 Wild.
