Waking up with the Kings: October 17

The St. Louis Blues tied for sixth in the league with an average of 2.92 goals per game last season. Though defensive stopper Vladimir Sobotka defected to the KHL, they brought aboard several new players – Paul Stastny and Jori Lehtera among them – that fall in lockstep with their heightened compete level and 200-foot game. Those two players also added some skill when skill was needed, and with the continued maturation of young stars Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz, Darryl Sutter on Thursday morning acknowledged that the Kings’ Central Division rivals have continued to add depth to a lineup that already was capable of rolling four lines. Though the visitors certainly had a fine showing and should be among the very best regular season teams in the league this season, Jonathan Quick and Kings penalty killers shut the door and snuffed out all opportunities through the shootout in a 1-0 win that did feel like the fourth game in a six-night stretch for L.A. against a rested team that hadn’t played since Saturday. Though St. Louis has a considerable amount of success offensively, one knock on the club is that they lack a pure goal scorer to score big goals in big games. Thursday’s game wasn’t necessarily a “big game,” though it didn’t exactly dispel that notion, however valid it may be.

Goaltending and penalty killing contributed with excellent performances on both sides. Some interesting numbers for the Kings: Matt Greene (4:20 PK time; 4 total hits, 4 total blocked shots), Drew Doughty (4:25 PK time), Mike Richards (2:05 PK time), Anze Kopitar (2:38 PK time), Slava Voynov (3:35 PK time; 5 total blocked shots), Jarret Stoll (2:22 PK time), Robyn Regehr (3:40 PK time), Dwight King (2:23 PK time; 4 total hits), Jeff Carter (2:26 PK time; 3 total hits, 2 total blocked shots). Obviously the Kings’ hit and blocked shot totals are going to be high in a game in which they did not possess the puck as much as their opponents (who attempted 74 shots), but a shutout takes all 18 skaters and a goaltender, and those in front of Jonathan Quick did their part as well. As for Quick – it’s nothing new. He was outstanding for the second consecutive game, and it’s a good sign that he has operated at a high level early in the season despite delaying his preseason debut after having recovered from off-season wrist surgery.

The lines! Oh my goodness, the lines changed! No big deal, nothing to see here. It’s always amusing when Darryl makes in-game adjustments based on the players who are going well for him that night and may scale back some ice time for players who might not have as high of an energy or compete level (or based on game circumstances) and Kings Twitter explodes. Line tinkering happens every night around the NHL. It doesn’t mean OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT 70’s LINE, it means Darryl is trying to find the right mix of players who will help the team win a hockey game. As Rich put it, Darryl was trying “to squeeze some blood out of his turnip.” The Kings aren’t planting roses all nights; it’s a long season, and there are going to be some titan arums from time to time. Without a key contributor and an important role player in Marian Gaborik and Trevor Lewis, lines have already been adjusted to begin with.

There’s some recovery time ahead, as the Kings play only once over the next six days. After having dealt with compressed schedules in each of the last two years, the first real, natural in-season break in a normal NHL slate is here. Given that today is the first CBA-mandated day off of the month, expect more recovery days to follow.