Angeles Analysis – Splitsville

I think it’s fair to say that Sunday’s win over Edmonton was one of the best games of the season for the Kings. I also think it’s fair to say that Monday’s game against Vancouver falls towards the other end of the spectrum.

Through it all, it’s a split in Western Canada, as the Kings enter into an extremely challenging stretch of games, which began this weekend in Alberta. The Kings toppled the best power play in the NHL, and one of the league’s best teams, in convincing fashion. The 5-1 scoreline was larger than the disparity in the game, but the Kings played as good of a third period as we’ve seen this season. They shut down a dynamic Edmonton team, picking and choosing their spots to attack themselves, eventually capitalizing on a late major penalty to put the game away on the power play. A great night.

Monday’s game against Vancouver felt like a bit of a loaded deck. The Kings were coming to town on the second half of a back-to-back set, having played in Edmonton the day prior, while Vancouver did not play the night before. The Canucks also were coming off of franchise-changing news late Sunday evening, with changes made to both management and the coaching staff. The Kings knew they would get Vancouver’s best effort, with a group of 20 looking to make a first impression for Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, and they got it.

After the Canucks pulled ahead early in the second period on a weird-bounce type of goal, they continued to surge, while the Kings faded. By the time it was 3-0, early in the third period, it was just about done. Sometimes, when you’re playing a hand of pocket aces, even your best attempts to bluff fall short. Felt like the Canucks had the rockets and rode them to take the pot.

How it shakes out was a split, which wouldn’t have been a surprising prediction coming in, but the way the Kings earned the split certainly was. If I told you before we left for Edmonton that the Kings would play 5-5 hockey over the course of two road games against the Oilers and Canucks, how would you have broken those goals down across the two games?

Did anyone here have a combined zero points for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, with the Kings keeping the Oilers off the board at even strength and on the power play? In 15 of Edmonton’s 21 games played this season, both McDavid and Draisaitl found the scoresheet. It was just the second time this season that neither player collected at least one point. There’s no playbook on stopping players of that caliber, though you can execute as best as you can to slow them down. The Kings did enough of that on Sunday.

On the flip side, while rumors always circulate, it would’ve been difficult to pinpoint an exact date of a coaching change in Vancouver. Rumors didn’t truly start to intensify until later in the evening on Sunday, with the Kings already headed back to Pacific time. I don’t think game one of a coaching change had much to do with the systems Vancouver was running, but it certainly gave that group a large boost in other ways.

The Kings knew what was coming. Todd McLellan spoke to it before the game, Alex Edler spoke to it after the game, as did McLellan. McLellan felt the Kings needed to “answer the bell” better than they did in those circumstances, but it’s hard to ignore certain factors that came along with it.

From an individual standpoint, while it’s hard to point out a ton of negative performances from the Edmonton game, and hard to find a ton of standouts against Vancouver, Viktor Arvidsson seems to be transcending results right now. In victories, in defeats and I’m sure in ties if we had them, Arvidsson has looked every bit the impact player the Kings were hopeful they acquired in the offseason, even if his impact is different than what you might’ve expected. Arvidsson has looked dangerous off the rush, crafty in tight situations and productive on the power play. He’s found ways to contribute in a variety of ways, even on nights when the Kings as a whole haven’t looked their best. With Arvidsson on the ice at 5-on-5, the Kings controlled 58 percent of shot attempts and 70 percent of scoring chances over the two games. Arvidsson has found a nice home alongside Phillip Danault and Alex Iafallo, and his style of play has been a welcomed fit with the Kings.

That line has been the most productive for the Kings, who can expect a slew of personnel waiting to rejoin the group at various times upon their return to Southern California. Likely coming in the team’s first game back on Thursday will be Andreas Athanasiou, who skated with the full group prior to departure. Brendan Lemieux is eligible to return the following game on Saturday against Minnesota, coming off his five-game suspension, and should be fine from a conditioning point of view, as he’s been able to practice while out of the lineup. While Blake Lizotte’s timetable is unknown, Quinton Byfield has taken the next step in his recovery process, as he was assigned to AHL-Ontario on Sunday morning. Byfield is expected to play his first game of the season tonight in Bakersfield, and his potential return to the NHL will be long-awaited.

The aforementioned four players present depth options for the Kings, as they look to sort out some inconsistency at the forward position. Adding in a proven offensive player in Athanasiou, as well as proven bottom-six players in Lizotte and Lemieux, along with an exciting prospect in Byfield, is a welcomed sign. As the Kings look to create consistency on their third line, and perhaps shuffle pieces around above that to increase even-strength production, having some options doesn’t hurt. Soon enough, the Kings will have options.

Those options will be important, considering the magnitude of opponent coming up over the next slate of games. In Dallas and Minnesota, the Kings will face the top two teams in the Central Division, with Dallas 9-1-0 in their last ten games and Minnesota 7-2-1. Following the pair of games at home, the Kings head Southeast, for four games against elite teams from the Eastern Conference.

Those six teams have a combined record of 94-32-15, and they come in six consecutive games for the Kings. We’ll learn a lot of things about this group over the next week and a half, with another opportunity to answer the bell coming up on Thursday.