The Kings played their most complete game of the season last night in their 3-2 tie victory against the Vancouver Canucks. A great sign going forward is that the Kings top line was the dominant line of old. For more on the game check out Eric’s recap.
Now, let’s take a look at how the Kings even strength number broke down.
If you’re unfamiliar with shot attempts and scoring chances check out these links to see why they are important: Corsi – Scoring Chances.
Tables are sortable. Thanks to Thomas Drance of Canucks Army for helping me out with scoring chance data.
Positives
- The most encouraging news for the Kings from this one was their power play. The Kings managed 3 scoring chances in 6:07 of PP time and scored on one of them. An improvement over last game where they recorded 0 scoring chances on the PP.
- The Jake Muzzin-Davis Drewiske pairing had yet another solid game. It’s true that they have benefited from playing the softest competition and an almost absurd number of offensive zone starts, but they are performing as well as could be expected under those conditions. Perhaps it’s time to lighten the load off the top 4 and trust Muzzin-Drewiske with some slightly more difficult assignments?
- This was by far Anze Kopitar’s best game of the season. He was dominant on the puck (+13 shot attempts) and helped create a number of chances (+5). Good to have you back Anze.
- Aside from being the hero, Voynov had a great game. +11 shot attempts and most of his ice time came against Vancouver’s most effective line (Hansen-Higgins-Burrows)./
Negatives
- Drew Doughty was the team trailer in possession numbers and scoring chances allowed, but when you factor in the fact that he played 29:59 (most of which coming against Vancouver’s top 6) the numbers are a lot less alarming. What is concerning though is that perhaps Sutter is over-relying on Doughty at this point and maybe doesn’t need to considering how well the youngsters on D have performed thus far.
- At first glance when you see that Jonathan Quick only allowed 2 goals in this one you’d assume he played well–and he did make some great saves. But when you consider he only faced 8 scoring chances his numbers become a little less impressive. The Kings could have denied Vancouver a point if he makes that routine save on Burrows’ wrap around in the 2nd. Quick’s SV% at even strength is a subpar .896, making the Kings 4th worst in the league in that department. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bernier in goal against Nashville, and allow the still recovering Quick a night off.
- Mike Richards numbers weren’t awful, but his game still seems off. He’s been very solid in his defensive zone coverage, but he seems lost in the offensive zone. The Kings were only able to create one scoring chance with him on the ice at even strength. For the 3rd straight game Stoll has gotten more EV TOI than him. Sutter tried a ton of different combos last night, but one thing I’d like to see him try would be moving Carter to center. That would mean running Kopitar-Carter-Richards-Stoll down the middle (moving Fraser to wing)./