What is wrong with the Los Angeles Kings?
January 24th 2011 18:43
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings started off the season at 22-12-1 and looked like a lock for the Western Conference playoffs for the second straight season. However, in their last 13 games, the Kings have gone 3-10-0. It's almost as if Sue from the movie Swingers has taken control of the Kings' destiny.
In looking at anyones schedule, a slump on a road trip wouldn’t be unbelievable. However, the Kings have played nine of their last 13 games at home and only two of their four away games were outside of the pacific time zone.
Ok – well, maybe they played some tough teams during that 13 game span? Well, they played St. Louis twice, and Toronto, Columbus, and Edmonton all once – all teams that are 11th or worse in their respective conferences. They also played San Jose and Chicago each once, both teams that are underachieving, and Phoenix three different times. The slump puts the Kings in a tie for 11th with the St. Louis Blues and four points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Star C Anze Kopitar has one goal and nine assists during the slump which isn’t awful, but his goal scoring needs to be picked back up for the Kings to have any shot in the last third of the season. He is their playmaker and catalyst and the Kings' success will ride on his shoulders.
RW Dustin Brown has shown signs of being a big time player in his last three seasons, then this season came along and something around the 25 goals, 35 assists mark was expected again. The former first-round pick had a different idea at the beginning of the season - his start of 16 goals and 17 assists in the first 35 games of the season was on pace for 37 goals and 39 assists. However, during the Kings' last 13 games, Brown has only come up with 1 goal and 2 assists, along with a -5 in the plus/minus category.
The always dependable LW Ryan Smyth has continued his fine season with six goals and five assists in the last 13, along with Jarrett Stoll contributing six goals and three assists during that same span. Defenseman Jack Johnson has been -8 during the losing streak and goalies Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier have had trouble keeping the puck out of the net, sporting a combined 86.9 save percentage.
Prediction: Los Angeles has dug themselves a huge hole to climb out of, with two more home games in January, then a 10 game road trip in February. The Kings finish the season with a 17-14-3 record, making them 42-36-4 at the end of the season with 88 points and a chance, although slim, of making the playoffs. I predict they finish ninth in the conference and out of the playoffs.
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