Angeles Analysis – Up & Down

What didn’t that homestand have, eh Insiders?

4-2 wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, sandwiched around a 6-4 loss against the Winnipeg Jets. Wins on Tuesday and Saturday saw the Kings play as close to the brand of hockey they want to play as we’ve seen all season. Thursday’s defeat was perhaps as frustrating a night as we’ve watched, a defeat that led to the Kings not only expressing the necessity to make changes stylistically, but actually further that by changing their alignment heading into Saturday’s homestand finale, the first real shakeup of the season.

I suppose that’s the thing with inconsistency. It’s not always going to go the way you want it, game to game, period to period or even shift to shift. It’s what the Kings are currently in search of and as Todd McLellan said after last night’s game, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a great win follow a disappointing loss. But, if you look at 9 of the last 12 periods, dating back to the loss in Washington, you’d find some really promising signs. The third period against the Capitals and the final 40 minutes versus the Jets withstanding, the Kings have taken strides forward with their style of play and their accountability defensively. It hasn’t been without bumps – those three periods have resulted in eight goals against – but the other nine periods have seen the Kings concede just six times. Players last night spoke about finding a style of play they believe can be successful, the same messaging we heard after the game against Toronto. We’re starting to see signs of the team we believed could exist in the preseason and we’re now seeing it more and more frequently. It’s really not all that hard to see the Kings with wins from all four of those games, though they stand at 2-2. It isn’t perfect, there are still strides to take and consistency remains an issue……but things are moving in the right direction.

I think that the players certainly deserve credit for responding to clear messages sent over the last 48 hours, but McLellan and his staff also deserve a pat on the back as well for their changes from Thursday to Saturday. Every button pushed paid dividends for the Kings, with players looking comfortable in new roles and new combinations yielding production at both ends of the ice.

The first line, with the addition of Gabe Vilardi, scored a goal, Vilardi’s seventh from 10 games played this season. Perhaps more importantly, the first line outchanced their opposition, both by quantity and quality, with their most common opponent being the Tavares/Nylander line. The third line, the landing place for Kevin Fiala, got a goal as well as Fiala showcased his offensive ability by stripping a puck in the neutral zone, dashing in alone and burying the breakaway as a part of a multi-point game on home ice. Then there’s Rasmus Kupari, who was +3 in shot attempts in his first game of the season. He played a simple yet effective game on the new-look third line, providing a complement to Fiala and Carl Grundstrom, a combination that can only grow as Kupari spends more than 24 hours with the club. On the backend, defenseman Sean Walker stepped in for the first time since the Kings were in Pittsburgh and looked a lot more like himself, as he logged 13:39 at 5-on-5, third most amongst Kings defensemen. Several times he connected on a “hey that was nice” kind of pass and it’s the puck-moving capabilities that made Walker special when he was healthy. Finally, there’s Cal Petersen, who made 26 saves on 28 shots as he earned his third victory from four starts this season. Petersen was tested early with a shorthanded breakaway and 2-on-1 rush in the first period, both of which were turned aside. Barring a couple of tough hops off the endboards, with both goals stemming from those plays, Petersen was excellent for the Kings, after backing up the last three games.

McLellan – Even that might have been different from well, he was a lot cleaner. There wasn’t anything that was seeping through him to the backside. You know, Puck pucks hit him in the square. He looked confident you know just a lot of really good things. He looked the way he should look. And now he’s like our team where can we consistently do it night after night? I believe we can on our putting in

For all of the reactions to Thursday’s defeat, and there were many from players, coaches and Insiders alike, the Kings bounced back the way you want them to. The reactions on Tuesday felt like just about every area of the team was praised. Thursday’s reactions felt like everyone on the team needed to be replaced or demoted. This week, the Kings faced the teams that ranked second and eighth in goals scored last season and limited each team to two goals apiece. They also allowed six goals for the third time in seven games. We have yet to see the level of play from Tuesday and Saturday on a consistent basis and for the Kings to take larger strides, that will have to come, but there have been some extremely encouraging signs this week that the Kings can hopefully take with them on the road.

The Kings opted not to hold a practice this morning and will depart for St. Louis a bit later on today. Awaiting the team on the road is a three-game set, across four nights, beginning in Missouri and moving to Texas and finally Illinois. It’ll be another strange trip without a practice day on the road. This past week started to feel a lot more like routine once again, with practices and games alternating and we’ll get more of that next week on a four-game homestand. For now though it’s about results from game action and managing minutes away from home. The Kings will do so to start in a pair of buildings that yielded four losses from as many games, with a back-to-back set against the Blues and Stars first on the horizon.

Coming up later on today, Insiders, we’ll take a deeper look into Gabe Vilardi’s hot start. The 23-year-old forward ended the day yesterday with fewer goals than just one man – Connor McDavid. That is, indeed, a hot start!