Waking up with the Kings: November 13

Wednesday’s 6-5 shootout loss in Anaheim was a game that may have been more enjoyable to watch without any rooting allegiances. It was played at high, high speed through much of the first 10 minutes, and while the breakneck pace wasn’t completely sustained, it did evolve into an up-and-down game, with the two teams trading chances at opposite ends. Except, in this case, “trading chances” refers to the “the Ducks possessing the puck” and “at opposite ends” means “mostly in the Kings’ end.” After a tightly structured 5-1 win over Vancouver in Los Angeles’ supreme effort of the season, that structure wasn’t consistently present in a game in which the Kings ceded a season-high 88 shot attempts after allowing a season-low 37 against the Canucks.

The Kings, who ranked second in the NHL in shots against per game in 2013-14, are averaging 33.1 shots against this season. Through 16 games, they are the 26th most effective club in limiting shots on goal. There are obviously several factors in play: The Kings are in defensive limbo with Slava Voynov’s status not clearly defined and with an injury to Robyn Regehr following an earlier injury to Jake Muzzin. At no point this season have they played with their full stable of available players. The season is also only 16 games old, so the sample size is still small. But there have been more games with 40-plus shots against this year (five) than there were through 82 games a season ago (three). The Kings generally call up players from Manchester midway through the season, but due to the reality that Brayden McNabb and Andy Andreoff could very well have been claimed off waivers, two young players are going through a bit of a trial-by-fire process out of necessity, another factor that could influence the team’s wonky shot discrepancy.

McNabb skated with Jamie McBain, who made his debut Wednesday under awfully challenging circumstances. In a road game and without the benefit of the last change, he faced one of the league’s top teams – a big, heavy team known for its strong forecheck – and spelled the other members of the defense for 11:47. In the third period, Ryan Kesler deked McBain out of his skates in turning a controlled zone entry into a backhanded wraparound that brought the home team within one goal on one of the standout individually skilled plays of the game. Again, the circumstances working against McBain in his first game with a new team couldn’t have been much more challenging; he’ll have another go when Dallas visits Staples Center tonight.

The Kings were an opportunistic bunch last night; they led 2-0 after one period despite being outshot 15-5 and went on to score on 19.2% of their shots against Frederik Andersen and Jason LaBarbera. Marian Gaborik’s rush attempt in which Sami Vatanen – also an elite skater – couldn’t pick up enough steam to close down the gap on the left wing and ceded a go-ahead third period goal, was one of the first times we’ve seen Gaborik at top speed and with space this season. The winger drew 19:05 of ice time as he absorbed a shift or two vacated by Tanner Pearson, who along with Tyler Toffoli was benched for the third period. I didn’t recall any individual circumstances that would have led to a benching, though Darryl Sutter made it clear after the game that he wasn’t happy with the style of play needed to beat a team like Anaheim. “It’s a big, physical team we were playing, so you’d have to be prepared to play like that,” he said after the game. Combined with Drew Doughty’s post-game quote, you have a pretty good sense of why the game developed the way that it did, and why certain personnel were used. Said Doughty: “…I think a lot of people were cheating out there. I don’t think we were playing responsible in our own zone. We were trying to get breakaways, trying to find odd-man rushes and trying to make pretty plays. Against a team like that who’s very good in the neutral zone you just can’t do that. Obviously without Quickie making some big saves, we probably wouldn’t have made it to overtime.”