Waking up with the Kings: February 5

It’s time to dip back to the Dustin Brown Well of 2013: “Sometimes you say at the end of losing streaks and at the end of winning streaks sometimes you’re losing games you shouldn’t, and sometimes you’re winning games you shouldn’t, as well,” Brown said after a loss in Detroit in which the Kings outplayed the Red Wings throughout the afternoon but lost in the last five seconds on Jonathan Ericsson’s goal. It was as applicable in January, 2013 as it was in January, 2017, when Los Angeles was superior to New York in every facet of the game other than the final score. The Kings claimed zero points that night, but they have won five games since and will extend some of their best play of the season into a road game against the NHL’s best team this afternoon in Washington. It should be compelling theater, just as last year’s narrow loss at the Verizon Center was.

Saturday’s win was about as much as an “identity win” as could be imagined. (1-0 wins often gravitate to Los Angeles’ identity.) The two teams played an even first period in which the Kings were the better team for the first 10 minutes before the Flyers made a push to claim the final 10 minutes, but through the remaining two periods and overtime, this was as Kingsy of a Kings game as could be expected. Their structure was rigid, their possession game on point, their shooting percentage was very low and their ability to limit chances and opportunities against was outstanding. Peter Budaj has been one of the great stories of this season, and one would imagine that he’s going to be among the favorites for the Masterton Trophy, but let’s face it: the Kings were fantastic in front of him in their own zone. Other than Sean Couturier’s breakaway, was there one Grade-A scoring opportunity against? Clearly it’s not entirely on the team’s structure, because Jeff Zatkoff, who, granted, hasn’t always been the recipient of the best play in front of him, has an .881 save percentage. But while Budaj deservedly gets a major heap of accolades this season and has emerged as one of the best stories in the league, the base of his success has been the team’s play in front of him.

One question heading into the season surrounded what the Kings were going to get from their depth defensive pair(s), and thus far the answers have been positive. Derek Forbort, who played a very composed 55 minutes before some minor hesitations late, has to this point passed his test resoundingly. Perhaps the success the team has had in limiting prime scoring chances against stems from a more mobile blue line that adheres to a staple of Darryl Sutter play by providing lightning quick exchanges between the back end and the forwards. By replacing less mobile defensemen in Rob Scuderi and Luke Schenn with Derek Forbort and Kevin Gravel, retrievals are more fluid and the team spends less time in its defensive zone. (This is just a theory; talk amongst yourselves.) The bigger question, which isn’t quite ready to be asked, is whether two rookies could handle a hypothetical playoff series against other heavy teams such as San Jose or Anaheim. Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Kings are in the thick of a playoff race and play the league’s best team on the road today.