Have you ever seen three goals be under review back-to-back-to-back in the first five minutes of the opening frame? What could have ended up being a hot start for both the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, was instead the cause of a sloppy, discombobulated, low-event affair. A type of game the Kings have almost been accustomed to this season, and one they were able to climb out of victorious, collecting just their third home win of the season with a 2-1 overtime win over their Pacific Division rivals.
“It’s hard. I mean, you get maybe one, two shifts, and a half hour goes by in real time,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “It’s hard to get your body into it, kind of get your mind into it, but it slows it down, so good job by the guys to find a way. Not going to be pretty, usually after that, but found our rhythm as it went on.”
Elias Pettersson, who has taken strides toward his old self, drove to the net before attempting to stuff one through Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg’s pad on the first shift. The play was reviewed and determined not to have fully crossed the goal line.
Andrei Kuzmenko, against the team that gave him his first taste of NHL action, made a sweet pass out front to Trevor Moore, who almost always fools goaltenders with his wicked release, and had no trouble beating Kevin Lankinen. Canucks head coach Adam Foote challenged the play for offside, which was successful. Then it was head coach Jim Hiller’s turn to keep the game scoreless, who also challenged a play for offside, negating Canucks forward Aatu Räty’s nifty tip off a Quinn Hughes shot from the point.
“Took the flow right out of the game, I thought,” Hiller expressed postgame.
Too Close For Comfort Against Struggling Canucks
The second half of a back-to-back is usually the slower game out of the two, and that was evident from both teams. The wonky start didn’t help, but really, it was a whole lot of nothing from the first five minutes to overtime.
Both teams played the day before, but the Kings were coming back home from a game less than an hour away, while the Canucks were waiting to play the last leg of their Californian road trip after a visit to San Jose. Lankinen had just returned to the Canucks after taking a personal leave and hadn’t had the chance to practice for four days.
The Kings had less travel, home ice, and a cold goaltender at the other end of the rink, and while they still managed two points against the Canucks, it should have been a game in which they were able to generate more than one goal in 60 minutes.
Related: Kings’ Early Season Observations
On top of that, the Canucks are struggling, and the numbers tell the same story. Reaching the bottom of the NHL standings with a 10-13-3 record, the Canucks have struggled to keep pucks out of their net. Coming into last night’s game with the highest goals against per game and the worst penalty kill, the Kings should have had a field day with a team as defensively poor as Vancouver.
Lucky for the Canucks, the Kings lack offensive production, as was evident with just six high-danger scoring chances generated at 5-on-5 throughout the game.
The lack of offensive prowess is a characteristic of the Kings. They have the second-lowest goals for at 5-on-5 so far this season and heavily rely on their defensive systems to win games. It’s why almost every game is low scoring, and why the Kings have ended up in overtime more often than not.
That being said, there comes a point when that gets old, and if scoring one goal in regulation and needing to squeak one out in overtime against a team that has allowed four-plus goals in 10 of their last 13 games is the extent of your production, then that begins to be a problem, especially at home, where goal-scoring is scarce.
Overtime AGAIN
Regardless of whether the Kings have been playing winning hockey, their record indicates a team that is competing for the top of its division. At 12-6-7 so far this season, they are tied for first in the Pacific with their in-state rival, the Anaheim Ducks. Despite a record that looks good, their so-called “success” has been propelled by their accumulation of loser points.
After last night’s game against Vancouver, the Kings have had 12 overtime appearances in 25 games, the most of any team in the NHL. Not only that, but finding that extra point has proven difficult with the Kings picking up two points in just five of the 12 games that have needed extra time.
Whether the Kings are unable to hold leads or are dispatching the leads of their opposition, struggling to finish games in regulation has been a recurring theme. It leaves the margin for error minuscule, and the continuous, tight affairs have been something this team has welcomed for more than just this season.
“It’s been like that, I think, the last couple of years, too,” Anderson said when asked about whether or not it feels like the margin for error is extremely tight right now. “It’s right there, one goal, stick on a puck, so try and end up on the better side of it (on) more nights.”
They aren’t, though. Finding that extra point has proven difficult for the Kings, with just five wins out of the 12 that have needed extra time so far. Only one team has had more overtime losses than the Kings this season, and that stat belongs to the Vegas Golden Knights, who have had an even more underwhelming first quarter of the season.
The truth is, one mistake could end up being the deciding factor for the Kings in about half the games they have played, and there are both concerns and positives to take from that.
“It’s good and bad. It teaches you to play in tight games (but) you don’t always want to be in those tight games,” Hiller said. “It’s hard on everybody, you know what I mean? The players understand that they probably play a little more cautious than they would normally when you’re that tight. And so it’s been hard for us just to get into a rhythm.”
“We’ve talked about not scoring a lot of goals. Sometimes you just feel a little more loose, and you can make things happen. This is, you know, you can’t make a mistake. It’s almost like playoff hockey. You chip it out, you chip it in, and I think probably all those games, it’s helped us in the mentality, but it’s probably hurt us just feeling good with the puck.”
No More Fiala, Byfield, Kempe?
Who else was the hero going to be other than Adrian Kempe? The superstar winger collected his third OT winner of the season on a play that was almost called back due to goaltender interference.
The trio of Kempe, Kevin Fiala, and Quinton Byfield was out for the OT winner, the same three players who were split up in the third period in hopes of providing some spark to the offense. It’s been the skillful trio that has made up the Kings’ first line over the past few games, but it hasn’t exactly gone as most would think.
Those three have played just over 70 minutes together throughout 11 games at 5-on-5 and have scored just two goals. It was a line combination that was highly anticipated by most and one that was expected to be the engine of the Kings’ offense, but it hasn’t exactly gone that way.
Their shots for percentage, goals for percentage, expected goals for percentage, scoring chances for percentage, and high-danger scoring chances for percentage are all below 50%, indicating their inability to control the play or produce more than their opposition.
It’s not what you want to see from your top guys on a line together; it’s ultimately why they were split up, and you can expect those three to be separated against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. All three have produced; they just haven’t produced together.
“We ran Quinton and Kevin and Adrian for, you know, a good portion. I wanted to make sure I put them together and give them enough of a run that we weren’t just yanking their chain,” Hiller said. “They were all right, but I don’t think we saw what we hoped from that, so it was time to get those broken up. This was as good a time as any because there was nothing.”
Two games is the extent of the Kings’ winning streak at home this season. It’s not been a pretty sight inside Crypto.com Arena so far, but the Kings could make it three straight at home with a win over the Capitals.
