The Kings will play back-to-back games against one opponent with nothing to lose on Friday, the Chicago Blackhawks, and another with desperation to spare on Saturday, the Minnesota Wild.
That will wrap up a whirlwind Midwestern road trip that will unfold in just four nights, but as the Kings proved once more in a 3-1 loss to the Blues in St. Louis on Wednesday, their offense has been anything but a force of nature.
“There were definitely opportunities to execute a little cleaner around the net that we weren’t able to do,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said.
Lumbering play with the puck on the back end has hampered their ability to generate speed up the ice. Meanwhile, the elusiveness of consistent finishing or forechecking, with the general exception of their second forward line, has become an entrenched issue.
In the 2024 calendar year, the Kings’ offense has placed 30th among 32 teams in goals per game with a commensurate ranking in five-on-five goals per game. From the start of the season through Dec. 8, while their record road winning streak was alive, they led the NHL in goals per game, and all the way through the 2023 portion of the season they sat third in five-on-five goals per game.
Despite those precipitous declines, they’ve been loath to involve offense-first players like winger Arthur Kaliyev, defenseman Brandt Clarke and forward Samuel Fagemo in their game plan or even their lineup. Kaliyev has recently been scratched in favor of a seventh defenseman. While initially that was Clarke, he has been back in the minors with Fagemo, while defensive-minded Jacob Moverare has been that seventh blue-liner.
Though sparing ice time and limited opportunities in offensive situations such as power plays have contributed, Kaliyev has not recorded a point in 18 appearances or scored a goal in 27. Fagemo has logged a meager 34 minutes across just four games for the Kings despite notching nearly a goal per game in the minors (35 goals and 52 points in 39 games) and was actually waived, lost and later reclaimed. Clarke, who had four points in his first four games after the All-Star break, including a dramatic overtime game-winner in Boston, has been relegated to the minors in favor of a defense corps that has been well below average as a group offensively and on zone exits. That’s been thanks in no small part to multiple rearguards who have required fortuitous mishaps to score at all.
While their power play has performed at a slightly above-average clip in 2024 and their penalty kill has continued to thrive in ways that seemed unimaginable last season, their penalty differential has turned nearly as many degrees as their offensive output has. Through Dec. 31, they had taken the fourth-fewest penalties in the NHL and had a corresponding penalty differential ranking. Since the ball dropped on 2024, they’ve had the fourth-worst differential in the league and placed in the bottom 10 in penalties drawn.
One team that hasn’t had trouble scoring recently is Chicago. The Blackhawks beat Arizona, 7-4, and the Ducks, 7-2, the latter behind a historic five-point performance by rookie Connor Bedard. That said, the Original Six franchise has struggled on the whole this season, jockeying around with the San Jose Sharks for the NHL’s worst record and enduring an all-time worst 22 consecutive road losses.
Minnesota underachieved early in the season but has been one of the hottest clubs in the league since the All-Star break, quickly emerging as a dark horse in the wild-card race. Coming out of the pause, the Wild have posted the fourth-best points percentage and sixth-most goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, who made fast enemies of the Kings in his rookie season of 2020-21, has led that charge, along with imposing center Joel Eriksson Ek. Kaprizov tied Toronto’s Auston Matthews for second in goals since the break and sat fourth in overall scoring over that same span.
When: Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: Bally Sports West
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.
TV: Bally Sports West
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That will wrap up a whirlwind Midwestern road trip that will unfold in just four nights, but as the Kings proved once more in a 3-1 loss to the Blues in St. Louis on Wednesday, their offense has been anything but a force of nature.
“There were definitely opportunities to execute a little cleaner around the net that we weren’t able to do,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said.
Lumbering play with the puck on the back end has hampered their ability to generate speed up the ice. Meanwhile, the elusiveness of consistent finishing or forechecking, with the general exception of their second forward line, has become an entrenched issue.
In the 2024 calendar year, the Kings’ offense has placed 30th among 32 teams in goals per game with a commensurate ranking in five-on-five goals per game. From the start of the season through Dec. 8, while their record road winning streak was alive, they led the NHL in goals per game, and all the way through the 2023 portion of the season they sat third in five-on-five goals per game.
Despite those precipitous declines, they’ve been loath to involve offense-first players like winger Arthur Kaliyev, defenseman Brandt Clarke and forward Samuel Fagemo in their game plan or even their lineup. Kaliyev has recently been scratched in favor of a seventh defenseman. While initially that was Clarke, he has been back in the minors with Fagemo, while defensive-minded Jacob Moverare has been that seventh blue-liner.
Though sparing ice time and limited opportunities in offensive situations such as power plays have contributed, Kaliyev has not recorded a point in 18 appearances or scored a goal in 27. Fagemo has logged a meager 34 minutes across just four games for the Kings despite notching nearly a goal per game in the minors (35 goals and 52 points in 39 games) and was actually waived, lost and later reclaimed. Clarke, who had four points in his first four games after the All-Star break, including a dramatic overtime game-winner in Boston, has been relegated to the minors in favor of a defense corps that has been well below average as a group offensively and on zone exits. That’s been thanks in no small part to multiple rearguards who have required fortuitous mishaps to score at all.
While their power play has performed at a slightly above-average clip in 2024 and their penalty kill has continued to thrive in ways that seemed unimaginable last season, their penalty differential has turned nearly as many degrees as their offensive output has. Through Dec. 31, they had taken the fourth-fewest penalties in the NHL and had a corresponding penalty differential ranking. Since the ball dropped on 2024, they’ve had the fourth-worst differential in the league and placed in the bottom 10 in penalties drawn.
One team that hasn’t had trouble scoring recently is Chicago. The Blackhawks beat Arizona, 7-4, and the Ducks, 7-2, the latter behind a historic five-point performance by rookie Connor Bedard. That said, the Original Six franchise has struggled on the whole this season, jockeying around with the San Jose Sharks for the NHL’s worst record and enduring an all-time worst 22 consecutive road losses.
Minnesota underachieved early in the season but has been one of the hottest clubs in the league since the All-Star break, quickly emerging as a dark horse in the wild-card race. Coming out of the pause, the Wild have posted the fourth-best points percentage and sixth-most goals per game. Kirill Kaprizov, who made fast enemies of the Kings in his rookie season of 2020-21, has led that charge, along with imposing center Joel Eriksson Ek. Kaprizov tied Toronto’s Auston Matthews for second in goals since the break and sat fourth in overall scoring over that same span.
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KINGS AT BLACKHAWKS
When: Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: Bally Sports West
KINGS AT WILD
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn.
TV: Bally Sports West
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