Angeles Analysis – Another Game Closer

Two ways to look at last night.

Is it a missed opportunity or is it a wash? Fine, it’s a mix of both.

I can’t sit here and say I didn’t call this an opportunity for the Kings in yesterday’s game preview. It certainly was. Two points clear of the Oilers, massive road game in Colorado with the opportunity to put another two points in the bank. Of the games the Kings have over this 6-in-9 stretch, last night was probably the lowest odds of winning going in. But that’s what made it such an exciting opportunity, coming off nine wins from ten games. It felt like a real opportunity to make a statement and that didn’t happen. In that regard, yeah, it was definitely a missed opportunity.

The flip side, though, is that it really didn’t cost the Kings in the interim. They entered the day two points ahead of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific and they exited the day two points ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific. The Kings had a game in hand coming into the day and they still do. As the Kings lost 4-0 in Colorado, the Oilers lost for the second time in as many nights, by a 6-1 final score in Seattle. Edmonton is currently without their two best players and their starting goaltender. Their stretch of adversity and they lost a lopsided final. So, for the Kings, they didn’t lose any ground by losing a game.

As Edmonton lost alongside the Kings, it certainly was an opportunity to pull four points clear in the Pacific Division, while moving to within three of Vegas at the top. As the Kings chase home-ice advantage in Round 1, however, the season moved a game closer to the end and the Kings didn’t lose any ground. So it’s hard to be all that upset with the situation as we wake up this morning.

At the end of the day, the Kings had won nine of their last 10 games coming into Colorado. Personally, that gave me a lot of optimism we could experience a high-stakes regular season game. The first period, I felt, was played at a very high pace with a playoff-like intensity. The Kings matched the Avalanche for most of that opening 20 minutes in what was an entertaining bit of hockey. They couldn’t sustain it, though, and wound up chasing a lot of the game. Against that team, in that building, it’s hard to overcome that on most nights. Ultimately was not meant to be for the Kings. “One of those nights,” I found myself saying aloud in the press box.

I dunno man.

Guess I don’t have all that much to say today. There are a number of different areas to pin last night’s game on. Ultimately, the Kings scored zero goals and when you score zero goals, I suppose you better hope for a Charizard-level of rare shootout, so I don’t quite understand the blame being dished to the goaltender. Can’t say that the Kings didn’t have any looks. They did. Maybe not enough, though, as they were on the lower end of their game-by-game totals this season in terms of shot attempts and scoring chances, but there were moments that could’ve led to goals. They certainly were let down by a power play that has been better of late, but didn’t get the job done last night. A lack of sharpness at 5-on-5 carried itself over onto the man advantage as well, I think that much was clear. On Tuesday against the Rangers, the power play earned those two points. On Thursday, while you don’t know exactly how the game would’ve shaken out, perhaps an early goal changes things up a bit. Didn’t come and the game unfolded as it did.

The team will not practice today, as they approach the backstretch of a grueling nine days. Six games in nine days. Honestly, it’s pretty ridiculous. Warren Foegele brought up the month the Kings are in right now, which has 16 games in 30 days. He said that he and the majority of the guys in the room really have never had a stretch like that, even in the NHL. You break for 4 Nations, they’ve got to make those games up somewhere. The Kings have handled the grind well, overall. But games are the priority and Jim Hiller is a coach who prioritizes rest and energy over the chance to perhaps work on a thing or two on the ice. Right now, you’d be hard pressed to disagree. With the 5 PM puck drop tomorrow, we’ll see the Kings then during warmups.

3-in-4 for the Kings upcoming here over the next four days. All three games will come on home ice. It starts with Toronto, a clear playoff team, before the final game of the season against San Jose, which has outplayed the Kings three times this season, winning two of those games. Then it’s Winnipeg, the highest point total in the Western Conference. In Los Angeles, the Kings have handled pretty much every team that has come their way. If we’re willing to park and ride last night’s game, opting for a wash as opposed to a missed opportunity, then the games upcoming will present a similar situation. By the time the Kings play these three games, we won’t be talking about games in hand. The Kings and Oilers will be even on 74 games, with an eight-game sprint to follow, including two games head-to-head, one in each city.

Game on.