Waking up with the Kings: November 6

It’s usually not a bad sign for the Kings when the Staples Center crowd twice breaks out its familiar Brian Elliott taunt. A throwback to the 2012 postseason, the Kings themseleves turned in a throwback home performance in dominating the scoring chances for the better part of three periods and leaving the visiting goaltender to fight off a cavalcade of quality looks (and, for the first time since the end of March, winning a game by more than one goal). Saturday’s game represented about as respectable of a performance in net as could be etched out in a 5-0 loss. Elliott was hung out to dry by a team that didn’t slow down the neutral zone, allowed wingers the ability to drive the net without recourse and ceded B-plus-type opportunity after B-plus-type opportunity. It is, apparently, a tougher task to tend goal for Calgary than it is for St. Louis. On the surface, the Flames’ tarot cards didn’t exactly spell out a great deal of fortune at the start of the season, given Johnny Gaudreau’s holdout and the challenges that come with a new coach implementing his own systems play and organizational detail. But Calgary should be a playoff-cusp team, provided that their checking and team play improves to the point to allow their goaltenders to produce a save percentage closer to 2014-15 (15th in the league; tied with Los Angeles), and farther away from 2013-14 and 2015-16 (28th / 30th). On Saturday, the visitors’ performance was the ugliest that we’ve seen in a game to this point at Staples Center this season, leading to coach Glen Gulutzan using the word “intimidated” and the phrase “prepared to play” twice each through his first three press conference questions.

And, now, for the team on the other side, the one you’re probably more interested in. This was about as close to a four-line, three-pairing performance as you’re going to get, and while the Anze Kopitar line didn’t find the scoresheet, they were all well in the black possession-wise, and it’s not like Calgary’s top players made much of a mark on the game. But there’s something to be said about the depth performances: They’ve been encouraging, at least for the last two games. One of the questions heading into the season was whether there would be enough production from the third and fourth lines to take pressure off the top two, and through these last two games, one gets the sense that a pretty solid third line could be forming. Dustin Brown and Nic Dowd have formed a really nice “two” since Dowd was inserted into the lineup, and Devin Setoguchi, who created some chances against Chicago, Anaheim and Pittsburgh, finally was able to cash in on the opportunities with a cathartic two-goal performance against Calgary. There was success in both driving the puck to the net and turning pucks over off the forecheck; speaking of the latter, I’m not quite sure how Dowd wasn’t credited with a second assist when a slowed-down replay in the press box clearly showed him getting his stick on the puck to help create the turnover prior to Setoguchi’s second goal. Brown also made a nice net-driving move around TJ Brodie, who like several other high-profile Calgary players hasn’t found any sort of regular rhythm to start the season, in setting up Setoguchi’s first. Only one point was recorded by a forward who banked more than 30 points last season, and, hey, here’s a quick, early-season note that Dustin Brown is currently on a 48-pace. Los Angeles will need more committee-like performances this season to free up the production for players like Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli, who’ve been relatively quiet to open the year. Ditto for Drew Doughty, who earned a nice assist in the team’s fifth goal, but hasn’t strung together the consistently excellent/very good performances we’re accustomed to seeing ever since a standout game versus Nashville. The fluidity of defensive personnel likely has an impact there.

There are clearly some feel-good aspects about a pair of players who in training camp were not expected to etch out roles on the team, let alone emerge as contributors. Both Setoguchi and Peter Budaj have been spoken about regularly on this site since early October, and it’s important to recognize the calming, veteran influence that Budaj has on the group, given the rash of injuries the team has weathered. He’s now started nine games in a row, including all seven of a 10-game stretch in which the team faced a challenging group of opponents and dealt with a litany of injuries, and emerged with a respectable 4-3-0 record. Jeff Zatkoff is on the verge of a return and should help spell Budaj, who could benefit from a break. But credit Budaj for making a big save or two early – his stop on Freddie Hamilton during a tied game in the first helped provide the base for Los Angeles to strike twice late – and for performances that give his team an opportunity to win games on virtually all nights.