Angeles Analysis – Start Spreading The News

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today
Week 1 of this trip, the New York leg, has come to a close. The Kings depart the Big Apple with four of a possible six points, after victories over the Islanders and Rangers and a loss against the Devils. A haul you’d take most times, especially when it brings the team’s overall output to seven victories from their last eight games played, ending with perhaps the most emphatic showing yet, a 5-1 win over the Rangers in a game that was out of sight 25 minutes in.

I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
Feels like more and more people do want to be a part of it.

How the team is playing right now may not matter to many. It’s about the playoffs, after all. I thought Eric Stephens with The Athletic put it really well a couple of weeks back, linked HERE. The team’s current play and the narrative out there hasn’t really aligned. I think when you lose in Round 1 three times in a row, to the same team, which hasn’t gone anywhere, the proving ground is not December. That comes in April. Ultimately, if it doesn’t happen there, then it’s for naught. However, it’s important to acknowledge a team finding its stride too, playing an effective brand of hockey on a much more consistent basis than we saw earlier this season. I feels like that’s starting to come, too.

I’m king of the hill, top of the heap
Putting points in the bank right now remains ever so important for the Kings, in a Pacific Division that’s been competitive at the top. No other division in the NHL has three teams with 38 or more points and no other division has five teams with at least 35 points. So, while the Kings are 8-2-0 in their last ten, which is great, those wins are keeping them in the mix, not separating them from the pack. Wouldn’t you know it, that 8-2-0 stretch is identical to Edmonton, which sits one point behind, while Vegas is 7-2-1 in their own last ten.

With Vegas and Edmonton continuing to fly, and Vancouver and Calgary not too far back, these wins are really important. If 7-1 was even 5-3? Kings are tied for the final Wild Card position, not second in the Pacific, one game off the division lead.

And I’ll make a brand new start of it, in old New York
While the offseason for the Kings was maligned by many, I think Warren Foegele has established himself as an impactful, middle-six winger on a contract that’s starting to look like a bargain. Foegele was the best player on the ice on Saturday, with a goal and an assist from a performance that saw him, individually, amass seven shot attempts in the first period alone, on route to nine total attempts, a season high.

Foegele has partnered now with Quinton Byfield and fellow offseason acquisition Tanner Jeannot to form an identity line for the Kings. On Long Island, they were exactly that. In New Jersey, they were anything but, with both Byfield and Foegele saying after that their showing against the Devils was below their standard. From their first shift at Madison Square Garden, they were back, impacting the game in big way, combining on a pair of goals that highlighted their simple approach to the game, but also the skill to make plays in tight spaces.

That’s probably the part that we’re all seeing and talking about.

What about Joel Edmundson, though?

Over his last 15 games, Edmundson has been on the ice, in even-strength situations, for 16 Kings goals compared to just four against. Edmundson has, generally speaking, done exactly what the Kings brought him in to do. He’s not allowing goals and he’s giving Brandt Clarke permission to play his own game, make plays when they’re available and when he makes a mistake, he’s got a guy there to watch his back. How a four-year contract ages, ultimately, we won’t really know until Year 4. In December of Year 1, though, present-day Joel Edmundson has been a welcomed addition for a team in need of a player who plays that way.

If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere
The World’s Most Famous Arena, so says the barriers outside of the Garden.

Good place to win a game and despite the present struggles of the team on the other side of the ice sheet, wins against teams like the Rangers get people to take notice. Even in game recaps from the home side, which wrote about an embattled organization right now, complements of the way the Kings imposed their will on the game were woven into the narrative. The Kings skated all over the ice and they simply made sure that yesterday’s game was played on their terms. I don’t think it was their best performance of the season or their biggest win. That’s still Winnipeg for me. But, sometimes a good win over the Rangers gives you a little bit more publicity than a great win over the Jets.

It’s up to you, New York, New York
All of the above is good.

Now it’s up to the Kings to keep things rolling.

Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Nashville and Washington are the four games remaining on the schedule before the NHL’s holiday break begins for the club on December 23. After a horrendous start, the Penguins are playing much better hockey, with a 6-3-1 record in their last ten games. Our old friend Blake Lizotte has seven goals from 16 games played this season. Good on him for finding a good home. You know you’ll get his best on Tuesday. Same goes for a Flyers team that while not always the most skilled, embodies the honest, hardworking style of their head coach. Nashville feels like a sleeping giant, with talent that exceeds one of the NHL’s worst records. One of the NHL’s worst teams on paper, but you never know if a team like that can figure it out. Then there’s Washington, which could present the Kings with a third chance to play against the NHL’s leader in points in a 12-game span. The Capitals lead the Eastern Conference with 44 right now. A comfortable lead too. Couple revenge games on tap there……maybe even a more than a couple, depending on how guys see it.

That’s a lot of words, though, for something that I don’t think matters all that much right now. It’s up to you, the Kings, the Kings, to play “the Kings way” for four more games. If they do that, regardless of the opponent and regardless of the setting, they’ll be in the fight on most nights.