Kings at Coyotes: Losing is Cool, and the Kings Like It

Did Anze Kopitar score a goal? No? Then the Kings got shut out.

That probably won’t be an easy way to recap all Kings’ games going forward, but it fits their last few. The Kings have scored two goals in their past four games. Both came from Anze Kopitar. It was good enough for a win against the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center Monday night, but it didn’t even warrant a consolation prize in any of those other games.

I’m hearing these are the Stadium Series commemorative badges given to the Kings.

Since I’m tired of writing full recaps about how the Kings came up short — because it happens way too often lately — let’s break this down into points:

 
THE GOOD VIBES

The Kings came out with energy at the top of each period rather than the top of just one period. Not turning any of their early chances into goals is still a problem, but they did make some attempt to battle fatigue on night two of a back-to-back after another long, failure-filled road trip.

Though it seemed like the Phoenix Coyotes were spending long stretches of time in the LA zone, the Kings possession numbers didn’t tank as much as watching might’ve suggested. The Kings and Coyotes came out at about even in shot attempts. The Kings managed 56 to the Coyotes 58. The Kings had a little bit more of an edge in unblocked attempts, managing 47 to the Coyotes 42. Subpar by LA’s standards, but not quite the insurmountable situation the score would have viewers believe.

 
THE AWFUL STUFF

Turnovers. Passing is hard, folks. At least it was pretty difficult for the Kings, especially if a player was trying to get a puck to Mike Richards. The Kings’ first goal against came when Richards and Slava Voynov failed to connect on a short pass so effectively on a breakout attempt that the Coyotes took the puck and scored seconds later.

Great assists on that, boys.

To add to that, Dustin Brown’s issues. He’s been having trouble scoring all season, but he’s usually a solid possession player despite it. Not in this game. Not in six of his last seven games played. His -25 Corsi relative was the worst on the team against the Coyotes despite playing fairly sheltered minutes. He left that game a minus-2. Justin Williams wasn’t at his hottest either.

Power Play. Just… stop. That the Kings managed to ice the puck on the power play again really tells the story. That, and during one of their PP chances, they earned no shots but the Coyotes had a shorthanded opportunity.

The Kings PP.

If I’m the Kings, I give up on trying to make power plays happen and just practice shooting pucks from the blue line for fun. I mean, why not?

Jonathan Quick. After a perfect night against the San Jose Sharks, he made some big saves for the Kings in this game but then sacrificed two goals on pretty lame shots. He might’ve been screened on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s first one, but his sightline was clear on the power play goal against to make it 2-0.

 
IRRITATION FUEL

Despite being a fairly consistent disappointment the last few weeks, the Kings are still third in the Pacific Division, sixth in the Western Conference, and ninth in the league. So, no matter how much they’re gleefully underachieving right now, they’re still nowhere near rock bottom, robbing fans of truly legitimate outrage.

Except in shooting percentage. They’re honestly the worst there.