With an 11-2-2 record since San Jose, consistency has been king of late in Los Angeles

When’s the last time we asked about consistency?

In November, it felt like it was every single day. How the Kings could go from surrendering five unanswered goals in the third period against San Jose one day, to outplaying the league-leading Winnipeg Jets in every facet of the game the next. How the Kings could bounce back so effectively after a loss but fail to string together multiple wins. How could things appear so clean and polished one game and go back to being murky the next.

In that process, perhaps we underestimated how many changes the Kings were trying to introduce at once.

A new Head Coach and a new training camp. A system change in the neutral zone, combined with philosophical changes in other areas. New concepts on both the power play and penalty kill. Line combinations and defensive pairings that were new and unsettled. The loss of the team’s number-one defenseman in September. It was a lot. Certain games, the Kings looked like world beaters. Others, they looked like a team getting to know each other, a team in danger of falling behind in the early-season standings.

“We made a good amount of changes at the start of the year and I think we were still trying to figure out what our identity was, how we can play as a team,” defenseman Jordan Spence said. “So far, I think we’ve figured out how we can win and how we can play well as a team and I think it’s been showing for the past month now.”

From the team that lost to Edmonton in Game 5 back in May, one third of that team is no longer with the organization. Over the summer, the Kings added three players who have been to the Stanley Cup Finals in recent seasons. Combine that along with the emergence of younger players within the organization and there has been a big shift over the summer to the personnel. When you compile that with all of the other changes, perhaps it took some time to establish consistency because there were so many variables at play, all at the same time.

The Kings clearly committed to grasping the changes. You don’t deliver the highs of the first couple months without that. It just wasn’t coming as quickly or consistently as you’d have hoped. Now it feels like it is.

It’s kind of like a science experiment. You can’t determine the cause until you can narrow down where to focus. As the Kings have grown together, as a group, they’ve slowly eliminated variables for inconsistency along the way. Now, it’s so much more defined and it’s showing in the results.

That aforementioned San Jose game presented a fork in the road, one that I compared to the 2022-23 Kings team at the time. As of now, it looks like a clear divider in the season.

Two seasons ago, the Kings lost 6-0 in Buffalo in mid-December. It was a pivotal moment in the season for a team that struggled to find an identity. The Kings responded with a 10-4-1 run over their next 15 games. 17-6-2 over their next 25.

This time around, the response has been even better over the first 15. The Kings are 11-2-2 since that San Jose loss, good for 24 points in the standings and a points percentage of .800, which is the best mark in the NHL in that time. This season, the moment was not as pivotal as it was back in 2022. But it was still important and it started with that win over the Jets to set the tone. A rare night in which the Kings had everybody firing at their best.

“It’s hard to be consistent every night, with 20 guys, that’s near impossible,” Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller said. “I think we had the one game against Winnipeg, we all agreed, best game of the year, every single guy was seemingly at the top of his game and that doesn’t happen.”

So, that begs the ultimate question – what’s changed?

For Hiller, he’s felt that while the Kings haven’t had their entire roster playing at their best every single night, they’ve had more and more guys going so on a more regular basis. As he said, it’s near impossible to get that for 82 games, but you can’t have five guys trying to carry 15, either. The Kings have flipped those figures, most games, from where they were at earlier in the season.

“What happens too often is there’s six or seven guys going and I think what we’ve been able to do is the nights we haven’t had 18 or 20 guys going, we’ve had a handful, 14 to 15 guys, that have carried the weight,” Hiller added. “So, when I say consistency, it’s consistency of enough players bringing their A-game and carrying the guys [that aren’t]. Picking each other up when we’re not all on our game.”

The players have picked up on the same thing.

Some nights it’s Anze Kopitar’s line. Others it’s Quinton Byfield’s line. Others yet it’s Phillip Danault’s line. Each night, there seems to be at least one leading the charge, but more often than not, it’s at least two of those lines going. Maybe it’s all three. Same goes on the blueline, which has led the way as well in some games, for a team that’s been among the NHL’s best defensively.

“Everybody’s been showing up more and more lately and playing very good right now,” forward Kevin Fiala said. “I think we have balanced lines overall and anybody can pick it up and lead the way. It’s great to see……most important thing is that we do it as a group and we respond as a group.”

The other important factor is that typically, when a player or a line has an off game, it’s not due to a lack of effort, a lack of intensity or a lack of commitment to play the right way.

When mistakes are made, at least they’re coming from players who are engaged and trying to do the right things. When it’s not that way, we’ve seen the results. When it is, it’s easier for the rest of the group to pick things up around them.

“I think the big thing is that the effort has been there and even if some of the details get a little relaxed, guys are working hard, guys are trying to do the right things,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “Enough guys pick up some of the slack when guys are struggling a little bit.”

That’s not to say that every game has been perfect.

Among those 15 were a sluggish win over Anaheim, an imperfect finish in Pittsburgh into an imperfect start in Philadelphia. But the roller coaster of performances we saw earlier in the season has been much smoother as of late. Doesn’t make for a great theme park ride, but it’s made for a successful path towards putting points in the bank. The two regulation losses came against Washington and New Jersey, who rank third and fifth in points respectively in the NHL this season. And still, the Kings were 1-1 in the third in New Jersey and outplayed Washington in defeat.

It’s certainly improved, no matter where you land on the matter.

It won’t be this high for the rest of the season. Hiller added today that there will be a dip at some point and the Kings will have to find their way again. Everyone knows that. But a team that’s gone from remarkably inconsistent to having 14-15 guys on any given night pulling the rope in the right direction is one you’d be more comfortable in getting back on track sooner rather than later. That’s where the Kings are at right now, beginning 2025, and as things continue to come together, and players return from injury, the hope is that the consistency will only continue to grow and improve as we move forward.