Greetings from the Northeast, aka “Place That’s About to be Destroyed By Yet Another Historic Storm”. Man, historic storms sure seem to be happening an awful lot all over the world lately huh? At some point we need to come up with another name for them, like another storm or our latest storm or seriously why won’t anyone stop climate change this is bullshit storm.
Keep us in your thoughts out there in California while you’re sitting at the beach or snorkeling or whatever the hell it is you people do between Kings games, I dunno. Let’s get into this three day week (lol if you think I’m wasting any precious letters on anything related to the ASG).
This Week in Games
(here’s all the games involving the Pacific Division from this past week. we’ll talk about the LA Kings’ games in great detail, while the rest will mostly just be scores, unless there’s something that really stood out about them. you’ll also get links to Eric’s awesome recaps which will expand on everything I’m saying in much greater detail if you missed any of them.)
Monday, January 19th
–Vancouver Canucks 2, Florida Panthers 1
–Calgary Flames 2, Los Angeles Kings 1 (OT): I’m amazed by the result in this game, in that the Kings actually got a point I mean. Outshooting them 33-19 in regulation clearly wasn’t going to be enough to get them the win, given the two teams involved and what month it was, so at least getting something out of this stupid game was nice. The phantom overtime game-winner by Dennis Wideman also managed to spare us watching the Kings lose another shootout, so all-in-all I would call this game a huge success by January Kings standards. (recap) (gamethread)
-New Jersey Devils 5, San Jose Sharks 2: Ha, what kind of loser team loses 5-2 at home to New Jersey? At least have the decency and respect for yourselves to score a third goal, Sharks. Geez.
Tuesday, January 20th
–Edmonton Oilers 5, Washington Capitals 4 (SO): Even the Oilers can win a shootout every now and then, Kings. Even the Oilers.
-Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Vancouver Canucks 1
-Chicago Blackhawks 6, Arizona Coyotes 1
Wednesday, January 21st
–Anaheim Ducks 6, Calgary Flames 3: It actually helped the Kings for the Ducks to win this game. So yes, everyone, strap yourselves in for ANOTHER year of basically rooting for the Ducks in almost every divisional game they play from here on out! What fun!!!
–San Jose Sharks 4, Los Angeles Kings 2: If you didn’t know the Kings were losing this game too, well, I don’t know what to tell you. Of course they were losing this game. It would have been nice if they could have lost this game without Joe Thornton running MARIAN GABORIK, of all people, into the boards for no real reason, but hey, whatever I guess. A good reminder that Thornton is secretly kind of an asshole. I’m not talking about this game anymore now because doing so would make me destroy my own keyboard in a fit of petulant anger. (recap) (gamethread)
Thursday, January 22nd-Sunday, January 25th
All Star Break. For coverage of the ASG and how much everyone hates it, go read the Twitter feed of just about any hockey journalist on the planet, in any year without the Olympics or a lockout, because they say the same thing every single year. We get it, you guys don’t like it. Neither do we. No one does. But it’s never going to change or stop so time to just learn to accept it, I think.
This Week in Standings
(5v5 SAC% = score-adjusted Corsi percentage at even strength)
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 SAC% |
| 1. Anaheim | 47 | 31 | 10 | 6 | 68 | 24 | 139 | 124 | +15 | 18-5-3 | 13-5-3 | 1-0-0 | 51.9% |
| 2. San Jose | 48 | 25 | 17 | 6 | 56 | 23 | 131 | 132 | -1 | 12-8-3 | 13-9-3 | 1-1-0 | 52.0% |
| 3. Vancouver | 45 | 26 | 16 | 3 | 55 | 24 | 124 | 114 | +10 | 11-8-1 | 15-8-2 | 1-1-0 | 50.6% |
| 4. Calgary | 47 | 25 | 19 | 3 | 53 | 22 | 136 | 125 | +11 | 11-9-2 | 14-10-1 | 1-1-0 | 44.5% |
| 5. Los Angeles | 47 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 52 | 19 | 129 | 126 | +3 | 15-6-6 | 5-9-6 | 0-1-1 | 54.8% |
| 6. Arizona | 46 | 16 | 25 | 5 | 37 | 13 | 105 | 156 | -51 | 9-12-3 | 7-13-2 | 0-1-0 | 48.7% |
| 7. Edmonton | 47 | 12 | 26 | 9 | 33 | 9 | 109 | 158 | -49 | 8-14-2 | 4-12-7 | 1-0-0 | 48.5% |
Everyone in the division won a single game except for the Kings and Coyotes (though the Kings had two shots at it, while the Yotes only had one). No one won two games at least though, with the Sharks, Canucks, and Flames all being kind enough to leave a couple points on the table. So the Kings remain basically where they’ve been: right behind all three of those teams. Problem is, they have just a single game-in-hand on the Sharks, none on the Flames, and the Canucks have two on us. Meanwhile, all three of those teams have more ROWs, and actually kind of a lot more. The Kings have got to start putting some wins together here if they want to climb out of the Wild Card, bottom line.
Speaking of the Wild Card, let’s take a look at it.
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Points | ROW | GF | GA | Diff | Home | Away | Last Week | 5v5 SAC% |
| 1. Winnipeg (C) | 48 | 26 | 14 | 8 | 60 | 22 | 135 | 117 | +18 | 12-9-3 | 14-5-5 | 1-0-0 | 53.1% |
| 2. Calgary (P) | 47 | 25 | 19 | 3 | 53 | 22 | 136 | 125 | +11 | 11-9-2 | 14-10-1 | 1-1-0 | 44.5% |
| 3. Los Angeles (P) | 47 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 52 | 19 | 129 | 126 | +3 | 15-6-6 | 5-9-6 | 0-1-1 | 54.8% |
| 4. Colorado (C) | 48 | 20 | 18 | 10 | 50 | 14 | 125 | 137 | -12 | 12-9-3 | 8-9-7 | 1-1-0 | 43.9% |
| 5. Dallas (C) | 46 | 21 | 18 | 7 | 49 | 19 | 144 | 151 | -7 | 11-10-5 | 10-8-2 | 0-1-0 | 50.9% |
| 6. Minnesota (C) | 46 | 20 | 20 | 6 | 46 | 18 | 128 | 137 | -9 | 11-7-5 | 9-13-1 | 0-1-1 | 52.9% |
| 7. Arizona (P) | 46 | 16 | 25 | 5 | 37 | 13 | 105 | 156 | -51 | 9-12-3 | 7-13-2 | 0-1-0 | 48.7% |
| 8. Edmonton (P) | 44 | 12 | 26 | 9 | 33 | 9 | 109 | 158 | -49 | 8-14-2 | 4-12-7 | 1-0-0 | 48.5% |
The Kings remain out of a playoff spot, and in fact they have a better shot at catching the Sharks for 2nd in the Pacific than they do the Jets for the top Wild Card position! Yes, folks, the Pacific is not very good this year. Anyway, the only movement here was Colorado climbing back above Dallas into 4th, just two points behind the Kings. The friggin’ Avalanche could pass the Kings next week. Ugh. Let’s just move on because this is way too depressing.
This Week in #fancystats
(all stats are total attempts, not percentages. thanks to extra skater war-on-ice.)
Flames 2, Kings 1 (OT)
Corsi: Kings 67-Flames 60 (overall), Kings 46-Flames 29 (5v5), Kings 43-Flames 24 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Kings 46-Flames 37 (overall), Kings 31-Flames 19 (5v5), Kings 29-Flames 17 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: McNabb (+11), Richards (+9), Doughty/Greene (tied, +8). Worst: Kopitar (-2), Muzzin/Lewis (tied, +1)
CGY Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Backlund (+2), Gaudreau (+1), Bollig (even). Worst: Colborne (-13), Granlund/Raymond (tied, -9)
Sharks 4, Kings 2
Corsi: Sharks 55-Kings 48 (overall), Sharks 43-Kings 31 (5v5), Sharks 20-Kings 9 (5v5 tied)
Fenwick: Sharks 40-Kings 38 (overall), Sharks 30-Kings 24 (5v5), Sharks 12-Kings 8 (5v5 tied)
LA Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Clifford/Kopitar/Regehr/Williams (tied, +1). Worst: Carter (-11), King (-10), Doughty (-9)
SJ Indv. Player Corsi 5v5– Best: Pavelski (+11), Hertl (+10), Thornton (+9). Worst: Goodrow/Scott (tied, -4), Nieto (-2)
Next Week in the Pacific
(this is exactly what it sounds like: the next week’s schedule for all 7 Pacific Division teams. all times are pacific because, um, duh.)
| Team | 1/26 | 1/27 | 1/28 | 1/29 | 1/30 | 1/31 | 2/1 |
| LA | – | – | vs.CHI (7:30) | – | – | @BOS (4:00) | – |
| ANA | – | @VAN (7:00) | – | @SJ (7:00) | vs.CHI (7:00) | – | – |
| SJ | – | – | – | vs.ANA (7:00) | – | vs.CHI (7:30) | – |
| VAN | – | vs.ANA (7:00) | – | – | vs.BUF (7:00) | – | vs.MIN (12:30) |
| CGY | – | vs.BUF (6:00) | – | vs.MIN (6:00) | – | vs.EDM (7:00) | – |
| ARI | – | @PHI (4:00) | – | @TOR (4:30) | – | @OTT (Noon) | @MTL (10 am) |
| EDM | – | vs.MIN (6:30) | – | vs.BUF (6:30) | – | @CGY (7:00) | – |
It’s a light week for the Kings with only two games on the schedule, though unfortunately both are against tough teams and even more unfortunately both take place in the month of January. While the Bruins might not be the Bruins of the past, they’ve been much better of late after an up-and-down season. And the Blackhawks, well, are the Blackhawks. So don’t be too surprised if we’re talking about two more losses this time next Monday, I guess.
Meanwhile, the Ducks will take on both the Sharks and the Canucks, so as mentioned earlier it’s in the Kings’ best interest for them to win both those games. Gag.
That’s all for now. No Jewelcast tonight as we’ve moved to an every-other-week schedule, so we’ll see you next week.