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Nine Numbers: The Figures You Should Know, Every Nine Games

Over the last couple of seasons, we’ve kept an eye on some repeated storylines surrounding the Los Angeles Kings‘ on-ice play. As a result, there are quite a few numbers that we often find ourselves looking up every few games. How many times did you look up Dustin Brown’s point total, last year for example?

Well, to make it easier for all of us, we’re tracking nine of those stats you’re constantly wondering about. Every nine games, we will report back on how these figures are changing over the course of the season.

Jonathan Quick‘s Save Percentage

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Quick’s recovered beautifully from a rough start and is currently in the top ten among starting goaltenders. Still not quite at Jhonas Enroth’s .975 though. Gonna be tough to catch that.

Shots on Goal by Anze Kopitar

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Kopitar’s about halfway between his 2013-14 pace (200 shots in 82 games) and 2014-15 pace (134 shots in 79 games).

Team Offensive Zone Penalties

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None the last two nights though! Our apologies to Nick Shore, who had the best-quality offensive zone penalty photo.

Dustin Brown Points

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After consecutive 27-point seasons, Brown is on pace for… 27 points.

Goals by Defensemen

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Jake Muzzin broke the scoreless streak last night. Last year’s total was 35, led by 10 from Muzzin.

Top King’s NHL Corsi Close Ranking

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The Kings are used to having their individual players near the top of the NHL’s Corsi rankings. Right now, the top King in Corsi For % in score-close situations is defenseman Brayden McNabb, who carries a 58.3%. That ranks sixth in the NHL. Last year’s top finisher among Kings? Muzzin. (If this feature seems Muzzin-heavy, sorry, we can’t easily track plays which cause Kings fans to curse at their televisions.)

Tyler Toffoli’s Average Time on Ice

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16:55! That puts him fourth among forwards on the Kings behind Kopitar, Jeff Carter, and Brown. The 2:20 jump from last year’s average is thanks to nearly equal boosts in even strength, penalty kill, and power play time.

Power Play Percentage + Penalty Kill Percentage

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A quick and dirty way to measure special teams success! 100, of course, should be average, with anything above that being good. The Kings are sitting at a combined figure of 103.7 thanks to a top-ten PK and an average PP.

Most JftC Reader #1 Rankings for One Player

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We started our player thumbs-up/thumbs-down postgame voting on Game 4 of the season, and lo and behold, the Kings haven’t lost a single game since. So if you want to know who’s been the best player the most often this season, we’ll be tracking who has the most first-place finishes. Honorable mentions to Enroth, Muzzin, and Tanner Pearson, each who recorded a game in which they didn’t receive a single thumbs-down but didn’t end up at #1 because someone else got more thumbs-up votes.

Talking Points