LAK AT 28: A DEFINING DECEMBER

LOS ANGELES, CA — As the Los Angeles Kings passed the quarter mark of the 2024-25 NHL season, the identity of this year’s model has started to emerge. As they embark on a seven-game roadtrip that will go a long way to determine their standing in a competitive Western Conference, they are on pace for 108 standing points, a 10 percent improvement over last season’s 99-point total.

At 17-8-3, Los Angeles is in the thick of the Pacific Division race for two primary reasons – playing solid defense at 5-on-5 play and excelling at home (10-2-1) with the latter becoming a signature for coach Jim Hiller (overall 24-5-2 since being appointed head coach last season).  They have achieved this despite the absence of Drew Doughty and a pre-Christmas schedule that will have them play 21 of their first 34 games on the road.

The Kings have shown the ability to close out close games in their recent games, despite the multiple goal victories against Winnipeg and Ottawa, those games hung in the balance entering the third period and a solid final 20 minutes has been a factor in winning the last six of eight games.

You can joke that if you miss the first two periods of Kings games this season, you’re not missing much – they’ve scored 46 goals in the first two frames and have almost matched that total with their third period output (40) and they’ve mirrored that defensively (36 allowed through 40 minutes, 32 surrendered in the third period). Throughout the win streak, if the Kings are close, they are going to win.

Overall, the Kings have a singular overtime loss in 13 games when they’ve led after 40 minutes and have outscored the opposition 10-1 in the six-game win streak and the one goal against was a meaningless goal late in the 4-1 victory over the Wild.

So, if you only watched the third period of games (I kid, I kid), what would stand out?

1. Sometimes statistics deceive. The collective .893 save percentage fashioned by the four goaltenders utilized this season – David Rittich, Darcy Kuemper, Phoenix Copley and Erik Portiillo – normally doesn’t support at team playing at a .648 points percentage clip. That’s because the Kings yield the second lowest amount of High Danger Chances at 5-on-5. Yes, you’d like more saves but without a Vezina candidate on the depth chart, shot suppression is the only way to translate sub-.900 save percentage into wins.

2. Gav gonna get his bag. In Doughty absence, Hiller had tried various blueline partnership and the pairing of Vladislav Gavrikov and Mikey Anderson. Anderson has been asked to step up (his ice time is almost two minutes more than last season – 22:40 v 20:38) and Hiller believes he’s done so. It’s comforting for the organization to see the consistent quality defending from Anderson knowing he’s only the second season of an eight-year deal with a $4.125 million cap hit but it’s the opposite end of the spectrum with pending UFA Gavrikov. Asked to switch of his off-side in a contract season may have been risky for the player and he’s delivered, registering a career-high 23:45 a night (in addition to a team high +12 rating) which stands to push the Annual Average Value of his next deal over $6 million per season. The decision to extend Gavrikov is a critical one for General Manager Rob Blake.

3. Still waiting on the offense. It’s mandatory that the defense is strong given the average performance of the offense. There have been a couple of bright lights in the goal scoring department with Alex Laferriere and Warren Foegele (the expectation was that Adrian Kempe would return to his customary goal output) but there’s plenty of room for improvement (Trevor Moore, Quinton Byfield and Phil Danault have combined for nine goals). And much as we enjoy attempting to guess line combinations from game-to-game, the 5-on-5 offense isn’t a strong suit, a tip to where Blake may do business at the March trade deadline. The 28th-ranked powerplay has been better at home (24.2% success rate) but with a massive roadtrip ahead, the road PP (11.1% success rate – 30th in the NHL) must improve. The lack of a right shot presence up front is a continuing issue (trade deadline move?) and given the lack of offensive threats on the second unit, maybe it’s time to leave the first unit out for the entire two minutes.

4. Strength of schedule getting stronger. The road games have been challenging, the quality of the competition through 28 games, not so much. 17 of their first 27 games were against teams who are not presently playoff qualifiers, so the degree of difficulty on the path to a fourth consecutive playoff berth will heighten over the final 57 games. With that said, there have been wins against quality teams (Vegas, Minnesota, Winnipeg and Dallas) with the Stars triumph of special note. Los Angeles was overmatched last season against Dallas, and it appeared to be going that route in last week’s matchup but their resiliency in a game where they were outplayed is a good sign.

5. Love him or hate him, they need him. Kevin Fiala has been the most polarizing player on the roster since arriving from Minnesota, he’s arguably the most skilled and dangerous player on the roster but it’s been at a cost – the unnecessary penalties, the questionable decisions with the puck but with the state of the offense, he’s a vital part of the roster despite some being down on him. But if the Kings can bottle the performance he delivered in the roadtrip opener against the Islanders, he will be changing minds. He played almost 20 minutes, potting the game winning goal and stating that “when things are working, back-checking is fun.”

6. Are you not entertained? If you’ve watched the average Kings games this season, you probably want more flash, more risk, more high danger chances in the 60 minutes or more of play. With no player in the top 20 and only 2 in the top 50 of NHL scorers, if low scoring wins and shot suppression is your thing then you’re loving this stretch of games and don’t expect it to change – it’s part of Kings DNA.

But are they a good team or is it just a good start?

The most qualified person to answer the question is the one charged with the team’s success, the head coach.

“We’re a very solid team. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself... when I say that, that's a real complement to our players,” Hiller said. “(We are) solid from top to bottom, we have a lot of players who have come in and out (due to injury), (we have) a lot of depth.”

When the schedule was released, the seven-game pre-Christman trip appeared daunting, but given the underachieving performances of multiple teams (Nashville, Rangers and Penguins to be faced), there is a path to success if Los Angeles can translate its home play to the road. If they can do that – and the Islanders win suggests they can – it can solidify their chances at the top of the Western Division.