Kings probably playing better than home record indicates

There has been a discussion over the Kings’ 3-3 home record during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs and the team’s focus on improving its play at Staples Center.

“I think we can be better, obviously,” Tyler Toffoli said. “You don’t want to be losing at home with the way your crowd brings momentum for you. I think we need to be better and we need to be better tonight.”

They’re obviously interested in improving on the record, but their quality of play at a glance doesn’t appear to be a dire concern. Los Angeles etched out a high quality performance in the Game 3 overtime loss to San Jose and was felled by a bizarre assortment of fluky goals in a game that represented a major turnaround in the style of play in the team’s three-nothing comeback.

Overall, the Kings have outscored their opponents 17-14, at Staples Center, outshot them 174-163, and have scored five power play goals on 22 attempts. Los Angeles has taken 52.6% of all shot attempts at Staples Center this postseason, a number that sits below their regular season rate but is weighted down by three home games against another outstanding possession team in San Jose.

One area the Kings will need to address is their penalty kill; their opponents are also 5-for-22 with the man advantage.

Considering Los Angeles (14.6 penalty minutes / game) have averaged five minutes more of penalties per game than Chicago (9.6), Montreal (9.6) and New York (9.1), remaining out of the penalty box will be key.

“It’s their top guys handling the puck without a lot of pressure,” Kopitar said. “Obviously you want to put pressure, as much as you can, on them. The power play, that’s kind of limited, so definitely stay out of the box early, late, whatever the case may be.”

While a team’s record is often reflective of its play, Darryl Sutter offered a caution to those drawing any type of conclusions from past data.

“We haven’t played Chicago yet at home. We’ll evaluate that after tonight,” he said. “Looking back, we played really good games at home, and quite honest, the turning point in the San Jose series was Game 3 that we lost in overtime here. We don’t really dwell on that, though, or think about that much.”

Willie Mitchell, on how Los Angeles can utilize home ice to its advantage:
The same as any other game – a good start try and harness some of the energy in the building and have a great start against a good hockey club. They’re saying the same things. It’s just about who is going out and executing them best.

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