A MIXED SIX FOR L.A.

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Kings are a half a dozen games into the 2020-21 season with mixed results. As they travel to Minnesota for their first series rematch of the season against the Wild, the on-ice product is like a two-sided coin – some good, some not-so-good.

The Good: Every game has been competitive.

The Kings have been in every game through six contests – four against teams, Colorado and St. Louis, picked to vie for the Honda West title. Not only have they been competitive, but only in rare stretches have they been overmatched (Sunday’s third period in St. Louis was nervous time); a positive given the number of lineup changes this early.

The Not-so-good: Two wins in six games.

The team has to learn how to close the show. Both of the final 20 minutes of the opening Minnesota series were painful to watch, blowing dual 3-1 third period leads with the second game tougher than the opener as they repeated the mistakes of Game 1. What staved off the Blues in Sunday’s win was the ability to build on a lead to make it a commanding one; but after earning it, they looked very uncomfortable playing with it.

The Good: Scoring?! Scoring.

Twenty goals in six games featuring depth scoring with Adrian Kempe, Gabriel Vilardi and Andreas Athanasiou tied for the goal scoring lead (3), a trifecta no one had at the open of training camp. Ignore the fact that they are in the middle of the pack in powerplay percentage, focusing on the number they are executing at. If they can continue to produce at 23.1%, that should yield 1 PPG per game and that can be the difference on many nights. Not really a surprise given the improvement they made with the extra man at the close of last season.

The Not-so-good: 0 goal differential.

They’ve needed every one of those goals to stay in games because there is a long road to becoming a capable defensive team. The lack of cohesion is a function of a depth chart that has no continuity from the final game of the 2019-20 season. Every line combination and defense pairing has changed, so the ask for tight defensive play this early is unreasonable. Though Todd McLellan’s goal is to limit chances and grind out games, his team will likely have to outscore its mistakes in the early going to put Ws on the board.

The Good: The second-round pick for Lias Andersson looks like a good investment.

The 2017 seventh-overall pick is using his second chance to establish himself with speed and feistiness on left wing, not his natural center position. A newcomer to the organization, the prevailing belief around the team is that when Lias settles in, he will be a positive add and could move up the depth chart.

The Not-so-good: Early returns indicate the Blackhawks won the Olli Maatta trade.

It’s one thing to take time to settle into a new system, it’s quite another to have a player you targeted for top-pair defensive duty to be a multi-game healthy scratch in favor of 21-year-old with less than 10 games of NHL experience (Kale Clague). The “what’s-a-Maatta with that defenseman” jokes aside, the assessment that Maatta was a top-pair instead of the consensus that he’s a 4-5-6 defenseman explains why the ask was minimal from Chicago.

The Good: Jonathan Quick is as feisty as ever.

Check that reaction from JQ32 on the final Blues goal on Sunday. Maybe the reflexes are not what they once were, but the fire in his belly appears far from extinguishing. An indicator that the Core 5 believes the team is on the right track.

The Not-so-good: A net negative in the stats department.

The Jonathan Quick-Cal Petersen tandem is 23rd in save percentage and under .900 (.895). Petersen is still looking for his first win and the duo only has two quality starts (defined as a start with a save percentage greater than the average save percentage or greater than .885 when facing less than 20 shots in a game) in six games. Their start is the opposite of the way the pair ended last season, by stealing games when the team was outplayed territorially and that needs to return as the team is finding its way in its own zone.

The Good: Shoot the puck, Gabe!

Avalanche backup goaltender Hunter Miska’s Colorado debut was made memorable by facing two Vilardi rockets, one beating him cleanly for a powerplay goal, the other pinging off his mask. Building off the PPG in the Colorado win, Vilardi finished with a beautiful backhander as part of the six goal L.A. outburst to register goals against all three opponents this season. If he is to remain at center, a shoot-first mentality as opposed to the pass-first looks by Anze Kopitar would be a nice change of pace, but he needs to look for his dangerous shot more (6 SOG).

The Not-so-good: It’s a long way to a two-way Gabe.

Just 16 games into his NHL career, it’s becoming apparent the Toddfather has no qualms about throwing Gabe into the deep end of the frozen pool. In game two against Minnesota, he took 25 faceoffs and has been in the circle double digit times in all but one game. Though reaffirming the offensive talent he showed in his last season cameo, he’s going through first-full year growing pains (got dominated on faceoffs in St. Louis and only 12:25 TOI in St. Louis win). While you marvel at his offensive tools, keep focus on his defensive play because it’s uncertain if he can play at the pace necessary at both ends of the ice to be the 2C of the future.

The Good: King Kopi.

The only thing Kopitar has not done for the team is schedule the charter flights. He’s tied with guys named Marner and McDavid for the NHL scoring lead while winning over 56 percent of his faceoffs and playing over 23 minutes a night. But despite leading the league in assists, the perfectionist in him was bugged by that goose egg in the goal column until Sunday.

The Not-so-good: How much is too much?

Kopitar and Drew Doughty are being leaned on heavily as McLellan assesses how to deploy the balance of  the depth chart, a function of the facelift the roster has seen since the end of last season. Kopitar claims to feel great, a result of a long off-season rest and solid preparation while Doughty hasn’t met a shift he doesn’t like and will never beg off elevated ice time. Will their elevated TOI (23:28 and 27:34, respectively) be reduced as the new kids on the block grow in their roles?

The Good: More flow to Kempe than just his flow.

Ending this review with the player I’ve been most critical of over the past three seasons. Adrian Kempe has teased the organization with flashes of being a top-six player since his arrival, but it’s only been a tease. The consistency needed to keep a top-six role never surfaced and as a result he was paid like a bottom-six forward on his last contract ($2M per for three seasons). Maybe it was the final decision to put him on the wing and giving him another shot with Kopitar, or maybe the knowledge that the prospects everyone talks about are drawing closer to arrival, but he’s seized what is likely his last opportunity to be an impact player and is a far more effective and confident player.

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