L.A. Kings Continue Their Perfect Home Stand

Added on Nov 15, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

If you are any team in the NHL, right now you are praying that the game you have coming up against the Los Angeles Kings is on your ice. Only then do you have a chance. Even if you happen to get a man advantage on the Kings the odds are against you that you will convert the power play. They haven’t allowed a power play goal at home yet. This might explain why NO ONE has beaten them at the Staples Center in LA (8-0-0)

The LA Kings(12-3-0) handed the Islanders their 10^th straight loss, and incidentally their coach his walking papers, in a 5-1 beat down this past Sunday night in Los Angeles. The Kings’ longest home winning streak overall is 12, during the 1992-93 campaign. Friday’s win concluded the second 5-0 home stand in club history. The other was in November 1990.

After defending 22 consecutive power plays Coach Terry Murray had this to say after the game, “There’s been some change in the style system, and some detailed parts of the game in the low coverage have been very effective. The great thing is that the guys have a lot of pride in it. It’s hard work and execution, but there’s a lot of pride. When you start sliding and blocking shots and sacrificing yourself and doing the right things, it’s a great commitment. And the goaltending has been very good, too.”

Lets look at a few of the stats. Currently they are in first place in goals against, first place in Penalty killing percentage, 9^th in goals per game and 15^th overall in power play percentage. Add it all up and you have a team who is putting distance between themselves, and the Ducks, who are second in the division.

LA Kings winger Dustin Brown said after the game “We’ve been playing really solid hockey. We’re getting scoring from everyone and good goaltending. In this game, it really comes down to details and everyone making sure they’re doing the right things, especially when you’re playing a team that maybe you’re expected to beat.”

Anze Kopitar who had 2 goals and an assist in the game added “It’s kind of hard to get into these types of games because you’re expected to win. But by no means was this an easy game. Maybe it seems like that, or maybe the score shows it that way. But they have some skilled players that you have to be aware of at all times, and they battled hard.”

Justin Williams, who has 6 goals in the past 7 games feels the confidence is growing for the Kings. “It’s just attitude, every night. We’re going to play the same way no matter who we’re playing. We’ve had some convincing wins and we’ve had some one-goal games that we’ve won. So we’ve shown that we can do it every way.”

Coach Murray feels is all about how good they start as a team. He concluded “I think it’s the maturing of a hockey club that understands the importance of the first period, If you come out and you establish a good game, and you’re able to get some offensive opportunities generated and maybe you’re lucky enough to get a goal and you’re leading at the end of the first period, the percentage of winning those games is pretty high in the National Hockey League.” He added the same goes for the season as well. “Again, that’s just good leadership in the locker room. The players talk about this stuff, the starts, making sure that everybody is going and doing the right things, on the same page. We’ve been doing it very well in the early part of the season.”

The La Kings play the San Jose Sharks (8-5-2) tonight in San Jose.