LOS ANGELES — The Kings will see familiar faces on Tuesday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets, but do they recognize the team in the mirror?
Former chums Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafallo along with longtime nemesis Jonathan Toews – the three-time champion with the Chicago Blackhawks missed two full seasons with chronic illnesses and now plays for his hometown team – will be part of the next group to confront a Kings club that has experienced a bizarre beginning to 2025-26.
In some ways, they’ve been fortunate to pull points from games in which they’ve trailed and/or been outplayed. By other measures, their offensive numbers are well below what their expected production would project based on their performance. Captain Anže Kopitar and fellow center Phillip Danault have been the players who have had the least production relative to their shooting talent, per Money Puck.
The Kings rank 23rd in goals per game, a familiar position for them in recent years. But their 3.15 goals against are the most they’ve allowed on average since their dismal 2018-19 season, and one would have to go back to 2007-08 for their next most porous effort, which also came amid a rebuild. Their penalty kill has also faltered, ranking 24th in the league for a team that has been shorthanded more frequently than all but three other clubs.
Following a 4-1 loss in which they doubled up the New Jersey Devils in shots on goal, Kopitar offered thoughts on why the Kings were stuck on just two regulation wins and had not yet prevailed on home ice this season.
“There’s not enough dirty goals, if you will. We’re not doing very good on our special teams and that usually translates into losses,” Kopitar said.
At the same point last season, the Kings (5-4-4) were 6-3-2, with all six victories coming in regulation. This year, their only two wins in 60 minutes came against lowly San Jose and Chicago. They have been heavily reliant on reaching overtime periods and shootouts, where they’ve won three times and picked up four of what Kopitar has referred to as “pity points.” More than half of their matches have exceeded the allotted time.
Not only have the Kings’ strengths fluctuated from night to night, they have done so practically from minute to minute. Eight of their 13 games have featured three unanswered goals for one or both participating teams, with the Kings on the receiving end of those surges more often than not.
The Kings are in a three-way tie for 20th in five-on-five goals for and are tied for 17th in five-on-five goals against. Yet Coach Jim Hiller suggested, after a shootout loss to Detroit, that special teams were the most glaring problem if not the only significant one.
“It’s very frustrating. I mean, I guess the encouraging part is you can see where the issue lies. That’s pretty clear for us, where the issue lies,” Hiller said.
The Jets won the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record last season and lead the NHL in points percentage and goal differential this season. Their special teams haven’t given them any cause for concern, as they rank in the top eight in both power play and penalty kill percentage.
WINNIPEG AT KINGS
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: FDSN West