Los Angeles Kings: Primed For A Stanley Cup Repeat?
The fate of the Kings in the playoffs will ultimately rest on the shoulders of one player, Jonathan Quick.
While Quick may not be the next Henrik Lundqvist in terms of his regular season accolades, during the playoffs there isn’t a more proficient or clutch goalie. Compared to his regular season SV% of 90.2% (Compared to Lundqvist’s 92.6%), Quick has maximized his reflexive capabilities in the playoffs by stopping 94.7% of the shots which are fired against him (.2% more than Lundqvist).
However, unlike the New York Rangers, the Kings have the benefit of having one of the most balanced teams in the NHL that allows them not only to be effective on defense but also in a variety of offensive situations as well. They rank 10th in goals per game, power play percentage and penalty kill percentage making them a dynamic force to be reckoned with. This multifaceted style of play prevents teams from pin pointing a specific player or area of the ice where the Kings are supposedly weak.
Initially, it seemed the St. Louis Blues had a simplistic blue print for disrupting the Kings synchronized schemes; use your physical presence and the boards to prevent them from getting into any type of offensive rhythm. Of course squelching the Kings offense is only half the battle as their defense is equally capable of shutting down any type of high octane offense, especially when Quick becomes the reliant crux of the defense. As a result, the Kings usually find a way of reworking their game plan to divert any team from using their same methods from game to game (Kings would go on to win four games in a row and win the series 4-2).
The Kings are also capable of bringing their own unique form of offense to the table especially with Jeff Carter as their leading man who has proven to be both an avid shooter as well as a dynamic offensive tool who can just as quickly divvy out the puck to any open comrade with relative ease. It seems that the Kings biggest strength offensively is having a deep core of centers with essential standouts such as Anze Kopitar (32 assists during the regular season) and Mike Richards (7 assists in the post season). These three players not only have unique styles of play which lend themselves effectively to any situation but also are surprisingly consistent when it comes to their execution. This unique trio makes it hard for opponents to lock down one player before another jumps in to swiftly take over where the other left off.
Unsurprisingly, this makes the Kings extremely thin at both the left and right wing positions. However, rather than this being a point of weakness, this allows the Kings to focus on training the majority of their squad to penetrate an opposing defense in a variety of ways rather than having an overly physical line up that shoots first and asks questions later. The Kings are more concerned with finesse rather than power which allows them to be more accurate with their shots on goal as well as to wear down teams who simply try to exert all their energy to physically impose themselves upon this team. While this strategy may work initially at disrupting the Kings primary form of attack, eventually the simplicity of this strategy will succumb to its inevitable downfall of allowing another player to be open for an easy assist, which is where the Kings are at their strongest offensively.
The only way the Kings can be demoralized and intimidated is by a combination of not only out shooting them but also by playing them loose defensively. Rather than trying to bum rush every player that has the puck, playing a loose man coverage scheme will give opposing teams both a better view of how the Kings are moving around the ice while creating an instinctual awareness that will allow for better chances at interceptions and ultimately more fast breaks which the Kings will be unable to anticipate.
Beyond that, this team can’t be beaten with the old school hockey mentality of beating an opponent into submission until they hopelessly relinquish the puck. The Kings intelligence on the ice and their awareness is far more innovative than that once “go to” philosophy. If the Kings lose in the post season it will come at the hands of an opponent who has studied them through and through while finding the soft spots on Quick.