How has the Kings-Blues on-ice product evolved?

When the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues met for a playoff game at Staples Center on May 3, 2013, the two teams combined for an absurd 92 hits. As itchy as the hit counter’s index finger may have been that day, for much of this decade the two defensive-minded teams have been associated with being among the “heaviest” and most physical teams in the National Hockey League.

While Kings-Blues games are often compelling wars of attrition, that stigma appears to be evolving. Los Angeles still leads the league in “hits” – a statistic whose definition may evolve from building to building – but both teams have been undergoing a transition, as much of the league has, toward skating and skill.

“I think we’re built a little differently than we have [been] in the past,” Blues forward Alex Steen told LA Kings Insider prior to the teams’ game at the Scottrade Center on October 29.

If there’s one statistic that stands as an outlier, it’s the Blues’ goals allowed per game. In the four previous seasons, St. Louis allowed 2.40 goals per game (4th in 2015-16), 2.40 goals per game (t-4th in 2014-15), 2.29 goals per game (3rd in 2013-14) and 2.38 goals per game (t-7th in 2012-13). This year, they’re allowing 2.98 goals per game, which ranks tied for 24th in the league. Their structure appears relatively unchanged, based on their shots against per game, which carries a top-10 ranking (27.9 / 5th) for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

“I think if you look at the teams only this year … they’re a team that made a transition in goal, as we have because of injury, and if you look at it right now, they’re like us,” Darryl Sutter said. “They don’t give up many shots against, but their goals-against and their save percentage is not where they would like it, if you look at it. That’s probably the one thing I’d bet that they’d want to address more than anything. Hey, in order for us to stay in the race, our goaltending’s got to be average. I’m sure we’re both saying the same thing.”

The Kings are tied for 22nd in the league with a .904 team save percentage, while the Blues rank 30th at .893. Jake Allen, tonight’s expected starter, earned his lone shutout of the season against Los Angeles but with a .902 save percentage on the season is only trailed in Sv% by one goaltender who has started as many as 25 games: Dallas’ Kari Lehtonen, who clocks in at .897.

So perhaps the aversion against a particular play isn’t as refined as it may seem. The winner of this game will likely be the team that executes its own game plan to a greater degree and receives the stronger performance in net.

“I mean, they obviously have some different personnel than they had in years past but I mean, that’s every team in the league,” Alec Martinez said. “You know, it’s the business side of things. It’s hard to keep everyone together. They have a bit of a change of leadership, at least from the outside, just in losing [David] Backes. I don’t obviously know what it’s like in their room but personnel changes, you discuss that but at the end of the day you’ve got to focus on your own game. If we don’t play our game then it doesn’t matter what St. Louis is doing.”

Coming off a 6-4 loss to Dallas – another team that, like the Kings, can skate and is also known for its physical play – Los Angeles is looking inward in an attempt to reduce its goals against.

“I think that’s outdated, that ‘big, heavy stuff,’” Sutter said. “We played a team last game that was bigger than us, and it was still called ‘big, heavy.’ That is what it is – it’s for other people to figure out.”

Alec Martinez, on whether there is still a feeling of being rivals with St. Louis:
Yeah, I think so. I mean, whenever you meet a team repeatedly in the playoffs and stuff it creates for a lot of emotional games. I think you touched on it earlier, that we’re very similar style teams and whenever you get two big, physical teams you’re going to get a big, emotional matchup so that’s just kind of the way it works, I guess.