The good’s going – with no room to stop
.
Positive looks
Positive results
Holy jeeze, what’s happening?
The Kings have won four in a row, the first time they’ve done so all season.
They’ve scored 38 goals in ten games. That’s 3.8 goals per game.
To stretch things to the eleven-game mark, the Kings have recorded the first goal in nine of the aforementioned. They’ve also recorded at least three goals or more in nine of the previous eleven contests.
They’re 8-2 in their past ten games.
Yet, they’re still out of playoff positioning with just ten games remaining.
They’re one point from inching into the Western Conference playoff picture, they’re two points from taking over the Pacific Division.
The Kings currently sit at ninth-place in the Western Conference, just one spot out from the postseason cut-off. The team ahead of the Kings, the Colorado Avalanche, who hold the final playoff seed, have just one more point (83) to the Kings’ 82. A bright spot to take into consideration here, Colorado has two games in-hand on the Kings, leaving four extra points on the table for Los Angeles to work with. That’s highly favorable right now.
Stepping up
They look like a completely different team, they feel like one. Production is coming from all angles, most notably in Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and the newly acquired Jeff Carter. This team seemed to turn the tables upon the acquisition of Carter, but the two big key producers have been from two faces that have marked territory here for quite some time.
During yet another offensive outbreak against Nashville Saturday night, Dustin Brown snapped his ten-game scoring streak. In that span, Brown notched an astounding 15 points in the form of five goals and ten assists. In the past 13 games, Brown has totaled 18 points. In Brown’s first 59 games this season, he recorded 28 points, that goes to show you how monstrous his recent outbreak has been.
The other big aspect in the Kings’ resurgence has been Anze Kopitar, who has churned out points in nine of his last ten games. In those ten games, Kopitar has chipped in with 11 points. This doesn’t necessarily knock his season-long production before his recent streak, but it’s shown something Kopitar has been lacking this year and in the past – consistency. When you’ve got a hot asset in Kopitar, you’re a dangerous club.
Sippin’ on San Jose
It’s the San Jose Sharks tonight at Staples Center, and it couldn’t get much bigger. The Kings and Sharks are twined in a dead-lock tie with 82 points apiece, both clubs trailing the top of the Pacific Division, honed by the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes (83 points respectively), by just a single point.
What makes this even more crucial, both the Kings and Sharks are one win from attaining not just a Western Conference playoff berth, but the possibility of taking the top spot in the Pacific Division – which earns a straight shot to the Conference’s third-seed. This is playoff hockey already, expect the atmosphere to emulate that feel tonight.
Not to mention, these two teams see each other three more times this year, including the final two contests of the regular season. The Kings are 1-1-1 against San Jose in their first three meetings this season. All you can ask from the Kings is that they continue this turnaround, you don’t want to fuss with it now, especially since fans and myself have been calling for this since October.
Let the elite continue to ink the scoresheet…
Toss in some back-end scoring, and things should be just fine
You think Mike Richards is sweating the Western Conference playoff race?
Hell no.
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