Waking up with the Kings: March 11

In a demonstration that the best defense is a good offense, the Los Angeles Kings maintained possession to a high degree, limited the Colorado Avalanche to 39 shot attempts, got bodies and pucks to the front of the net and benefited from the home team’s less-than-desperate and mistake-prone play in front of occasionally shaky goaltending while cruising to a 5-2 road victory that was a complete reversal from the run of play in the teams’ previous meeting at Pepsi Center – a 4-1 Kings win – three weeks prior. After killing an important penalty against a team that had scored four power play goals in its three previous games, Marian Gaborik deflected a Brayden McNabb wrister from inside the blue line to give the Kings an early lead that was ultimately doubled just over four minutes later when Trevor Lewis capitalized on a turnover on a Colorado break-out before feeding Jeff Carter, who finished off an impressive give-and-go with Jordan Nolan with a quick release. Kyle Clifford added two goals and Jake Muzzin equaled his career-high by scoring his seventh goal as the Kings responded well to both Avalanche goals. Clifford’s first goal and Muzzin’s goal followed Colorado goals by 82 seconds and 89 seconds.

Clifford and Nolan appear to have benefited from a slightly widened opportunity over the second half of the season. Ever since Tanner Pearson was felled by a broken lower fibula and Tyler Toffoli was diagnosed with mononucleosis, Clifford and Nolan have found a good rhythm in their games, and the statistics support that somewhat. In the 25 games since Pearson broke his ankle against Winnipeg on January 10 – also the first game Toffoli missed due to mononucleosis – Clifford has contributed six points (4-2=6), while Nolan has chipped in with five (3-2=5). Both are modest totals but surpass each players’ career scoring rates, and even when they haven’t been scoring, they’ve been providing energy and softening up their opposition with an effective forecheck. Lines were fluid last night, though Clifford and Nolan have mostly been a net positive for the Kings when skating together, often alongside center Nick Shore. The Stadium Series game in which Clifford scored on a deflection stands out as one of the recent games in which the line operated with a good energy and provided a tangible result.

Brayden McNabb has quietly produced 21 points in 60 games and appears to have developed better poise in all situations, especially when handling the puck. Since Darryl Sutter paired him with Andrej Sekera last week, both players’ games have benefited. Sekera was praised by Sutter as being “probably the best player on the ice” last night, and having spoken with the coaching staff and those in hockey operations, there is the sense that Sekera began quietly getting more comfortable with the team during the two-game homestand against Montreal and Pittsburgh. As noted previously, there is a significant challenge in trying to acclimate a new defenseman who recently switched conferences and is playing on his off-side during a time of the year when getting rest is paramount and lengthy systems-reinforcing practices are fewer and far between. By all accounts, Sekera has the makeup to be able to absorb the information without being overloaded and apply it in game situations. The McNabb-Sekera pairing will be one to pay a good deal of attention to during a time of year where there is very little margin for error.