Royal Pains

By Mike Rifkin

The LA Kings came out of the All-Star break with an impressive 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, and most people thought that was what they needed to get out of this almost two-month funk they’ve been in. Well, on Tuesday night, they lost by a touchdown to the Buffalo Sabres, and any good feeling people had about LA after the win over the Oilers evaporated. 

Since the new year, the Kings are 4-8-5 and are clinging to a wild card position in the Western Conference. The beatdown in Buffalo began a four-game East Coast trip for LA, who will also visit New Jersey, Boston, and Pittsburgh on this trip. Two teams like LA are fighting for their playoff lives, and Boston is one of the best teams in the NHL. As I said, LA is currently the first wild card in the Western Conference, but their saving grace is that they have games in hand on the teams chasing them. But the games in hand won’t matter if the Kings continue to play terribly. 

LA’s recent stretch got Head Coach Todd McLellan fired during the All-Star break; after a tremendous start to the season, the Kings have fallen off. Before the season, I was very high on LA significantly after they added Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets, but right now, I am unsure of what the Kings are, and if they continue to be this bad, what will Rob Blake do with the trade deadline coming?