Kings Continue to Struggle Offensively; Allow Avalanche to Take 3-0 Series Lead – The Hockey Writers – Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are in the exact position most expected them to be, down three games to none in the first round to the Colorado Avalanche. 

They are the consensus best team in the NHL, unbelievably consistent on both sides of the puck, have depth for days, and even then, when you can generate a grade-A look, Scott Wedgewood is there to make your life even more difficult. 

But even through all of that, the Kings, a team that was supposed to get thrown around like a ragdoll, have stuck around and made things interesting in all three games, which makes the outcome sting a little more. To hold their ground that well, and play three of the best games they have played all season, against a team as good as the Avalanche, and not come out with one win, has got to create an intense feeling of frustration. 

“All of the games have been close, we keep saying we’re right there, but I think we just have to give a little more,” Quinton Byfield said. “They are the best team in the league for a reason, but as I said, we’re right there, we know that, we’re confident in our group, and it’s just one game at a time now.”

The famous three words of “we’re right there” that have circled the Kings all season, except this time they really have been right there the entire time. The effort to shut down the Avalanche has been there, and defensively, there’s not much more you could ask for from a team that is so clearly not on the same level. For the Avalanche to just be scraping by is saying something about the kind of performance the Kings have delivered so far, but sometimes, it’s just a matter of accepting the fact that the Avalanche are just too good in too many areas. There are too many things for the Kings to overcome or be better at to have a chance to win. 

The Kings have to play mistake-free hockey for a full 60 minutes to even have a chance at beating the Avalanche, and then on top of that have to find a way to force the Avalanche into mistakes of their own in order to get their offense rolling. It’s an uphill battle on both sides for the Kings because of how dominant the Avalanche are both defensively and offensively, and while the Kings have the ability to go toe-to-toe with the Avalanche defensively and physically, unfortunately, we are seeing a Kings team that just doesn’t have the horses offensively to compete. 

Not Enough Offense

Through three games, the Kings have scored a total of just four goals, with only one at 5-on-5. They haven’t been able to generate nearly enough offense through three games or test Wedgwood the way Anton Forsberg’s been tested, and most importantly, have had a lack of finish on the quality looks they have been able to create. 

“They’re, statistically, one of the best teams in the neutral zone. So, for us to beat them, we’ve got to wear them down in the d-zone, make them tired, and score goals that way. We haven’t done that enough,” Drew Doughty said. “They come at us with flurries of three great shifts in a row, and then the game kind of goes back to neutral, and then they do it again. We need to get more of those flurries on them.” 

It’s one thing to say that, but it’s another thing to be able to do it, and the Avalanche make it an almost impossible task. As one of the best teams in the neutral zone, the Avalanche are disgustingly good at clogging that area of the ice in layers and forcing turnovers. For a Kings team that has struggled with breakouts all season long, it’s been a nightmare for them to be able to move the puck up the ice with any flow and attack the Avalanche with speed. And because of the lack of speed and control of the puck through the neutral zone, the Kings have had a difficult time generating offense and offensive zone time. 

How do you combat that? Well, it starts with simplifying the attack. Turning the Avalanche’s defensemen, chipping pucks in, retrieving them down low, and then trying to work it around for a good look at the net. It’s gaining the offensive zone and then possessing the puck that has been the root of all problems for the Kings in this series. Once they manage to get in the zone they have been able to create, but it’s just not happening enough. 

Game 3 saw the Kings put forward their best offensive effort. They spent more time in the offensive zone than the Avalanche did, which doesn’t happen often; they outshot the Avalanche for the first time in this series, and they scored twice, which is once more than they did in each of the past two games. A slight improvement in that area of their game, but again, two goals are not going to be enough against the Avalanche. 

The Kings are in do-or-die mode now with one more game left at home to try to extend this series and avoid getting swept. So far, this hasn’t felt like a series that should end in a sweep, but at the end of the day, the Avalanche are a team poised for a deep run, and realistically, nothing about this Kings team gave off the impression that they were going to be the ones to take them down. For all three games to have been this close is something the Kings should be proud about, regardless, and the fact that they have made the Avalanche work this hard is a win in itself. 

The Kings have to empty the tank on Sunday and leave it all on the line. 

“We’re not going to give up,” Doughty said. “We’ve still got another game at home, and it’s a must-win game, obviously, and we’re going to give it our all.”

Will the desperation to keep their season alive be enough to drag this series back to Denver?