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The Kings Are a Disaster
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- The Kings Are a Disaster
The Los Angeles Kings are stinking up the show.
Usually, that means you're doing something right. Well, not in this case. They're stinking up the show in the worst way possible. And what's worse than being the only team left in the NHL that has yet to win a game? It can't get much worse than that.
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It doesn't matter if this team outshoots its opponent by 20 or more shots. Somehow, someway, the Kings will find a way to lose.
Tuesday was a perfect example. The Edmonton Oilers defeated Los Angeles 4-1 despite putting just 16 shots on net. The Kings, meanwhile, fired 40 shots at the opposing goal and came away with — you guessed it — one goal.
Apparently, 40 shots still aren't enough when you can't figure out how to beat a goaltender.
At the other end of the ice, Darcy Kuemper — the supposed starting goaltender, although that title is becoming increasingly difficult to justify — was pulled in the first period after allowing three goals on seven shots. Three goals. Seven shots. Do the math.
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Peter Laviolette turned to Anton Forsberg, the goaltender who helped make this team look at least halfway competent during last year's playoffs. Forsberg stopped all nine shots he faced in relief, but it didn't matter. The offense gave him virtually nothing to work with, and the Kings went on to lose 4-1.
Then came Saturday, with the Kings back in front of their home fans and desperately searching for something — anything — resembling a breakthrough.
At least Laviolette got one decision right. Forsberg got the start.
He stopped 24 of 26 shots, but Los Angeles still lost 4-1. Alex Laferriere scored the Kings' lone goal against Jeremy Swayman, and that was about as exciting as things got for the home side.
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Another game. Another loss. Six straight now.
And before anyone wants to point out the two overtime losses, let me make something perfectly clear: if it's not a win, it's a loss. Collecting a point here and there doesn't change the fact that this team still hasn't figured out how to finish the job.
The Kings are an absolute mess right now. They can't score, they can't find consistency in net, and they keep giving their fans reasons to wonder what, exactly, is supposed to change.
Speaking of consistency, Kuemper has been about as reliable as Katie Zacharia's statements about her legal background.
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So, who exactly is the starting goaltender in Los Angeles? The guy carrying a 4.53 goals-against average, or the one sitting at 2.63?
Because if the Kings actually want to give themselves a chance to win hockey games, Forsberg should be getting the call. If they want to keep rolling out Kuemper simply because he's the more expensive option, well, by all means, keep doing what you're doing. It's clearly working wonders.
Kuemper makes $5.25 million a year. Forsberg makes $2.25 million. That's a $3 million difference, and right now, the cheaper option looks like the better bet between the pipes.
Of course, a goaltending change isn't going to magically fix everything. That's the other problem here.
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The Kings can't score to save their lives.
And Saturday's loss to Boston might have been the perfect summary of just how bad things have gotten in Los Angeles.
The Bruins won 4-1, with two of those goals coming into an empty net. That's right. Two empty-net goals. Laviolette was so desperate to get something going offensively that he was willing to pull his goaltender and give Boston a free shot at an empty cage just for the chance of getting another goal on the other end.
And what did the Kings get for that gamble?
Absolutely nothing.
Los Angeles was willing to risk giving up easy goals just to generate some offense, and it still couldn't make anything happen. That's how desperate things have become. When you're pulling your goalie because you need goals that badly, you'd better have an offense capable of making the gamble worthwhile. The Kings didn't. Instead, they gave Boston two empty-netters and went home with another loss.
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At some point, you have to wonder what Laviolette is supposed to do with this group. He can change the goaltender, pull his goalie, shuffle the lineup, or cross his fingers and hope something finally clicks. But none of it matters if his team can't finish its chances.
You could give this team 40 shots every night, and it wouldn't mean a thing if they can't turn those chances into goals. Outshooting an opponent by 24 and still losing by three isn't just frustrating. It's a glaring warning sign.
The goaltending situation is a problem. The lack of offense is a problem. And the inability to turn promising performances into wins is an even bigger one.
The Kings aren't just losing games right now. They're running out of answers.
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Six games into a winless start, there needs to be some accountability in Los Angeles. You can't keep pointing to shot totals as evidence that things are going well when the scoreboard keeps telling a completely different story.
At some point, the excuses have to stop.
Because right now, the Los Angeles Kings aren't just stinking up the show.
They're making a mess of it.
