Magic Eight Ball – A few thoughts on the Kings 8-0-0 start on the road this season

Another game, another LA Kings victory away from home.

In doing so, the Kings skated to their eighth straight victory on the road to start the season, becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to accomplish the feat. Last night’s win equals the 2018-19 Nashville Predators and places the Kings one win shy of the 2009-10 New Jersey Devils. The all-time NHL record is currently owned by the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres, who won their first 10 away games of the season, on route to eventually winning the Presidents Trophy.

Sharing Todd McLellan’s latest attempt to answer the question that is continually asked after victories on the road – what’s going so well on the road?

“You know what, I can’t even answer that question, I couldn’t tell you. We’re a veteran team, we don’t have a lot of rookies on the team, we’ve been together as a group for a long time, we understand what our structure is, our game management skills have gotten better from the beginning of the year until now and all of those things are really important when you play on the road. They certainly are at home too, but we seem to play a simpler game and everybody pulls on the rope the right way. We don’t need outstanding games from everybody every night, we just need good games.”

It’s obviously a fair question, when the team is two games shy of tying an NHL record. It’s kind of an unanswerable question, though. How do you define performances on the road specifically, when they aren’t just eight consecutive games and there’s not necessarily a rhyme or reason as to why anything would be different compared to at home. The Kings have won their last two games in Los Angeles as well, with points in six of nine played at home this season, so while there was some concern about the home performance earlier, it’s mostly straightened itself out.

If we break down McLellan’s quote, piece by piece, perhaps there’s an answer that lies within the context.

The Kings are indeed a veteran team, in a couple of ways. By average age, the Kings rank right in the middle of the pack around the NHL, at 27.73 years of age per Elite Prospects. While that doesn’t scream veteran, think that just two years ago, the Kings were the fifth youngest team in the NHL, when they returned to the postseason in 2022. So, not only are the Kings getting older, but they’re also becoming a more veteran team together. Of the group that’s played NHL games this season, only three players – Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andreas Englund and Cam Talbot – were added to the organization this offseason and Dubois and Talbot are among the most experienced guys in the group as a whole. You can’t just say “a veteran team will win on the road”, but it certainly helps that not only are the Kings a more experienced bunch than we’ve seen in seasons past, but they’re also more experienced together.

Structure and game management are also important on the road in particular. The Kings always point to their structure as a staple of their game and we’ve seen it really on display when they’ve been at their best. In statement-type wins over Toronto and Vegas, the Kings frustrated their opposition with their team-wide structure and overall style of play. Even on a night like last night, when the Kings were certainly not at their best, it was the structure and defensive-zone commitment that prevented a ton of Grade-A chances against, when the puck possession metrics were skewed against them at times.

In terms of game management, the Kings have done a good job of managing the penalty disparity on the road in particular. The Kings have the third-best penalty differential in the NHL on the road this season and they rank in the Top 10 in the NHL in fewest penalties taken on the road. That even compensates for yesterday in Arizona, a night in which many of those tendencies did not show up, as the Kings went shorthanded six times. Beyond just the penalties, the Kings have gotten timely clears when needed, timely whistles when needed and they’ve been willing to fight another day when the situation calls for it. When you add that on top of offensive flair the group has shown, it can be a recipe for success.

In terms of everyone pulling on the rope the right way, how about these stats for you.

The Kings have 17 players with five-or-more points this season, the only team in the NHL with that level of dispersed scoring. They’ve also got 11 skaters with three-or-more goals this season, which led the NHL entering last night’s game. They now rank third, one shy of the league leaders. That’s translated into 37 goals from eight games played on the road, tied for the second most in the NHL behind only the Vancouver Canucks, who are boosted by a 10-spot in San Jose earlier this month. In terms of goals-per-game on the road, though, no team is even close to the Kings, who are averaging 4.63 in the early goings.

It flows well into the last part of the quote McLellan gave last night, which is that the Kings don’t need “outstanding games” from everybody, every single night. Last night in Arizona, it was Phillip Danault’s line, with Trevor Moore and Kevin Fiala on the wings, that McLellan felt gave the Kings an outstanding performance. Perhaps that helped other lines that were maybe just fine, or good, even if no one was poor. That’s been the beauty of it for the Kings offensively. In year’s past, if the big guns weren’t going on a given night, I’m not sure you’d give the Kings a very good chance at success, especially on the road.

In 2022-23, between the regular season and playoffs, the Kings went 6-11-3 on the road in games that Anze Kopitar did not record a point, compared to 16-3-3 when he got on the scoresheet. Fine, it’s probably not a great comparison, because Kopitar has points in all eight road victories this season, but hey, I did the research, so we’re going to keep it in there. How about Kevin Fiala then, as the Kings went 3-7-2 when Fiala did not collect a point last season, as compared to 18-7-3 when he did. Fiala has been off the scoresheet three times on the road this year and the Kings have, naturally, won all three games. You could go down the list and probably find a couple more trends with regards to individual players. What’s pretty simple to me is that this season’s Kings team has the depth that was lacking over the last two. It’s been perhaps the most encouraging thing to come from an 8-0-0 start away.

The quote last night actually doesn’t mention the additional factor that has been money, which has been goaltending. McLellan did touch on it several times throughout the interview, though, as Pheonix Copley turned in his best night of the season. Copley has had an inconsistent start, in his own words, but for all that’s been made of it, the Kings have picked up points in all five games Copley has started, collecting eight of ten available points in total. With a .944 save percentage in road games specifically, no team ranks higher than the Kings. While much of that has been the performance of veteran Cam Talbot, give Copley his due for a really good night yesterday. Heading into December, January and February, the Kings will need both goaltenders humming along, as they schedule gets more grueling. Last night was a good step heading into that run of games.

Naturally, things will regress at some point, as no team has gone through a season 41-0-0 on the road. Not even 40-0-1. With a PDO of 1.092, leading the NHL, expect certain areas of the game to regress towards the mean as time goes on, but even as that happens, the Kings are in a place where they can still win games despite a save or shooting percentage that might not be quite so high. 8 of 11 victories this season, including 6 of 8 away, have come by three-or-more goals. It’s a metric the Kings ranked 21st in the league in from 2021-23, despite being a playoff team in both seasons. While this season, they rank second in the NHL in that area, it’s a team built on the foundation of being comfortable in uncomfortable situations. When push comes to shove, and a 2-1 win is needed, the Kings have that in their arsenal as well.

Day off today for the group, back to practice tomorrow. Several storylines to follow up on as we get back on the ice in advance of Friday’s Freeway Faceoff!