Last night the Kings tried a pretty interesting approach to playing hockey. It was a little risky, but they decided to go with outshooting an opponent. Granted, their challengers were the Buffalo Sabres, the only team with a more embarrassing shots per game rate than the Kings heading into the game, but beggars can’t be choosers. Also, it’s been ridiculous and flukey that the Kings have had such poor possession during the season start anyway. Hopefully this game jump starts their offense.
Some takeaways:
Keeping it 100
Jeff Carter is really damn good, you guys. Kings fans adore him, so it’s not as if his skill somehow gone unnoticed, but him hitting his 100-point mark with the Kings made me stop and think about it all over again. He got the scoring stared on the Kings’ first power play of the night, using Tanner Pearson to screen his shot and pop the puck past Jhonas Enroth, short side:
Carter then picked up a second point on Kopitar’s power play goal in the second period, which is what got him to the 100 marker.
Here are a few truths about Jeff Carter:
• It only took him 143 regular season games to reach 100 points in an LA Kings uniform.
• He ranks 13th in goals per game among active NHL players (>=300GP).
• Since 2008–09, only five players have scored more goals. This one Fox Sports West even showed on television.
You don’t have to point out your own stat, Carter, jeez.
It’s a little ridiculous how effective he is and that, with all of that talent, he’s spent much of his time on the Kings’ second line. He, Tyler Toffoli, and Tanner Pearson are still generating most of the points for the team right now. Toffoli and Carter are actually tied for lead with 8 points.
Special Team Game Strong
While the special teams aren’t perfect, they’re improving. Both goals scored last night came on the power play, though Carter’s wasn’t the result of cycling. There Kopitar won an offensive zone face-off which allowed them to set-up immediately and quickly get a shot. Kopitar’s goal later on came about after the Kings forecheck and some sloppiness by Sabres players allowed Kopitar to gain control, pass to Carter, and then receive the puck again when he was right in the low slot.
The Kings’ penally kill is a bigger success story lately. They have allowed no goals on their last 17 kills. With an 88 percent success rate right now, the Kings’ kill is 6th in the league. Last night they were shorthanded three times and only allowed 3 shots on goal. Goaltender Jonathan Quick has had to bail them out on some of the chances in past games, but last night everybody was efficient.
No Cobs
By the way, Jonathan Quick has been really wonderful since his ugly home opener performance. His shutout against the Sabres is the 33rd of his career, officially setting a new franchise record for most shutouts by a Kings’ goaltender. In his last four starts, he’s faced 145 shots on goal and has saved 143 of them, good for a .986 save percentage.
Overall he’s at a .958 to start the season. Of course Quick immediately gave the rest of the team credit for helping him collect all those shutouts so far. It’s true that the rest of the Kings’ skaters helped him out more against the Sabres, but the Kings have been so amazingly outplayed in a few of their games this month that a huge part of their current little win streak is due to Quick.
Beating the Sabres isn’t necessarily something to hang a new banner about, but it was good for the Kings to get back to playing their game more. Jake Muzzin returned to the lineup and Alec Martinez and Robyn Regehr played solidly as a second defensive pairing. It’s also fun to see the team engaged enough to roll over inferior opponents the way they should.
The Kings now have an opportunity to go 6–0–0 on their home stand if they can pull out a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
I’m hoping for Regehr to score again and earn a hilarious reputation as a Blue Jackets killer. And, hey, if Carter wants to nab a hat trick just to show Columbus all over again that he’s doing just fine in LA, that would be okay, too.
