Angeles Analysis – The Godfather Season + Last Call for LAKI Night on Wednesday!

Can we officially call this The Godfather season?

Feels like the year of being out on the Kings, only for them to go ahead and pull me RIGHT back in.

Maybe it’s the Dumb and Dumber season.

Just when you think it can’t go much lower, just when you think it’s about to go off the rails, the Kings go out and TOTALLY redeem themselves.

Looking back, how many times have we seen this unfold?

The Kings went 1-3-2 to start the season, staring down a defining early road trip. They go 4-0-1 on said trip. I’m back in.

Then, they come back home and drop three of four back in late-October. Back on the road, the Kings respond with four straight wins and TOTALLY redeem themselves.

A 3-1 loss against Chicago in December felt like the worst loss of the season and it may have been at the time. Two days later, against the very same team, the Kings scored six goals in convincing fashion to end a disappointing homestand on a high note. Okay. I’m back in. Again.

Going into the holiday break, the Kings were at what felt like their lowest of the low, having lost six of seven games before the time off. They came out like gangbusters with a 6-0 win over Anaheim. Then they lost against Colorado and Tampa Bay, the latter being the actual worst loss of the season, hands down. They host Minnesota, the NHL’s second-best team by points, and earn a sweep, winning twice at home.

That brings us to now, when a banged-up Kings team fought to earn a point against San Jose on Wednesday before heading North of the border for a quick, two-game trip.

Looking at the games in Winnipeg and Edmonton on paper, you’d say that the first game against the Jets was the easier win, the game that the Kings should win. The Edmonton game would be the bonus. Winnipeg played on Thursday, Kings were off. After all, the Jets were on an 11-game losing streak, right? Naturally, the Kings lose 5-1.

It was an extremely disappointing defeat that once again followed a script of how the Kings have lost games this season against teams beneath them in the standings. Chances for, opportunities created, doesn’t go in. Then, one look the other way and the Kings trail. There were some flukey goals in Winnipeg, certainly, so maybe it was the most extreme example of it. The Kings rarely concede five. But it felt like every chance the Kings had went unclaimed. Every one against found a way in. If that happens once, whatever. But when it happens 20 times, well……

Then came Edmonton. I assume you all went into that game with a similar thought process to me in that it would be an extremely difficult ask to get a win. And what do the Kings do? They go out and deliver one of their finest performances of the season, skating to a 4-3 shootout win over the Oilers. Twice they went down a goal and came back. A 5-on-3 goal against didn’t de-rail them in the third period. In fact, in just over 16 minutes 5-on-5 in the third period, the Kings had 16 shot attempts to Edmonton’s four. They were the more dangerous team, despite being in their sixth period in 24 hours, with two hours in the air in between. There was no sitting back this time at Rogers Place. The Kings did their best to attack for 65 minutes and got the reward they deserved.

Last night was the latest Godfather example. The latest Dumb and Dumber example. It’s what has been absolutely maddening with this team, yet continues to maintain optimism. If the Kings delivered that Edmonton performance even 50 percent of the time this season, they’d be leading the Pacific Division. It’s clearly in there but it feels like we see it only in backs against the wall scenarios. You watch the Kings go into Winnipeg to play against a team that had fewer wins over its most recent 17 games than the New York Jets and lose by four goals. You’re out. 24 hours later, you watch the Kings go into Edmonton, tired and beaten, and deliver an outstanding performance on the road against their biggest nemesis and you start to believe again.

Over the last month, the Kings have won four games against current playoff teams – Edmonton, Minnesota x2, Tampa Bay. They’ve also lost four games against teams currently outside of the playoff picture. I think it’s what’s made this team so difficult to get any sort of a read on. They’ve beaten these top-caliber teams and even in losses to Colorado and Tampa Bay, the Kings played step for step in those games. The worst showings haven’t been beatdowns against teams that are clearly better than the Kings. They’ve been the nights when the Kings haven’t gotten it going against the teams they should beat, leading to games just good enough to lose by a goal, perhaps collecting a point in the process. But just good enough to get a point isn’t good enough. Going into Edmonton and winning that game, that’s good enough.

With 38 games now remaining, there’s really nothing to suggest that this approach will change. You hope it will, you hope the Kings can finally hit that stride they’ve been searching for. I’m back in right now, but just like Dumb and Dumber, I’ve seen this movie before. This team will most likely continue to have enough performances like the Edmonton game to keep you believing. What they need, though, is for those performances to stand out less, because they start to become norm. Until that point, the Godfathering continues.

Along the lines of an offer you can’t refuse – Last call for LAKI Night on Wednesday!

For those who haven’t seen or who haven’t gotten their tickets yet, I’ve still got a few spots available if anyone would like to join last minute! $56 per ticket in the Sky Bar for the Kings/Golden Knights game. Taking ticket requests through the end of the business day on Monday before finalizing things at the end of the day to get the tickets out to those who have already committed. Have around 35 Insiders already attending and would love a few more, if you can make it!

Email me at zdooley@lakings.com if you have a last-minute interest in attending!