Waking up with the Kings: April 8

There is a very funny Simpsons episode, written by Conan O’Brien, in which conman Lyle Lanley tries to sell the city of Springfield a monorail system in a parody of The Music Man. He is an experienced cheat who has conned other cities into investing in the ill-advised, underfunded and broken monorail network before, and when he departs Springfield in the nick of time on a plane bound for Tahiti carrying a briefcase overstuffed with money, only to learn that the plane will be making an unscheduled stop in North Haverbrook – a city he has conned previously and whose economy has plummeted – he thinks to himself “North Haverbrook, now where have I heard that name before? Oh, no. OH NOOOOOO!” before an angry mob rushes the plane. Now replace “North Haverbrook” with “Richard Bachman,” and you’ll get an accurate sentiment of Kings fans entering last night’s game who recall the Utahn’s previous (if limited) experience against the club. Who knows if small sample sizes against one arbitrary opponent mean much, but Bachman has now taken seven of a possible eight points in four career games against the Kings while stopping 120 of 124 shots. Bachman was on leave last week following the passing of his brother, so from a personal and completely neutral standpoint, hopefully last night’s game provided him 60 minutes of focus and clarity amidst an incomprehensible personal tragedy. Of course, the external circumstances mean little at all to a Kings team that suffered a major blow to its postseason hopes in dropping a game they could hardly afford to lose.

It was the other goaltender in last night’s game who drew the most scrutiny, however. Let this be clear: the Kings did not lose because of goaltending or any goaltending decision. They lost because they did not generate any consistent attack and scored zero five-on-five goals against a 28th-place NHL team that did not have the services of three defensemen, its first line center and its top checking center. They lost because there were missed coverages on two Edmonton goals and a turnover that led to a breakaway on another. Martin Jones kept Los Angeles from falling behind early with saves on high-quality scoring opportunities as the Oilers had better jump and energy and generated the more dangerous scoring opportunities for the better part of the first period. The Kings won 11 and lost 24 faceoffs over the final two periods, and two Edmonton goals were scored off of faceoffs. The thought that the Kings would have “rallied around Quick” had he started is unquantifiable. Whether it was due to the amount of hockey played over the last three seasons, the challenges of the late arrival the night before, personnel issues or individual performances, Los Angeles simply engineered a forgettable performance on Tuesday night.

There are postseason entrances that require the assistance of other NHL teams, but one thing is front and center: the Kings must win on Thursday night. While the recollections of Los Angeles emerging from the SAP Center, Honda Center and United Center with Game 7 wins remain fresh in our memory bank, this is a new Kings team. There is more mileage on this team. There is a different set of personnel and a different balance of experience and accomplishment. While the familiarity of past triumphs in hostile surroundings certainly doesn’t hurt Los Angeles’ purpose come Thursday, they’re going to be facing an ultra-energized Calgary team that has defied expectations and needs one win to lock down its first playoff berth since 2009 in a supercharged hockey environment. Fortunately for the Kings, they’ll have the best big game goaltender in hockey in their net, and he’ll be as rested as could be reasonably expected at this time of year to meet this challenge.