Kings head coach Todd McClellan (top right) watches his team play during the third period of their game against the Buffalo Sabers on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena. The Kings lost a 3-1 lead, 5-3, for the 12th time in 14 games. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
Wednesday's night started off well for the Kings, much like the season.
Anze Kopitar quelled his thirst for a goal with a deft change of direction from a narrow position. Pierre-Luc Dubois also joined in the act with a more lively performance, as did Adrian Kempe, building a 3-1 lead with two great goals.
They then surrendered four unanswered records to the lowly Buffalo Sabers, eliciting the kind of throaty boos befitting a slightly more hardcore sports town like Detroit or Philadelphia.
They will next face the Colorado Avalanche and Denver High on Friday, but two nights later, their 12th loss in 14 games has forced them to reflect on whether their season has hit rock bottom.
“Let's hope so. Obviously, it's not very good. There are some OT losses. Those are unfortunate points, but still important, so I'll accept that, but yeah, hurry up and fix the problem before it's too late. We have to get back on track,” Kopitar said.
Some optimists point to the fact that the Kings have some way to go in terms of quality of opponents in their remaining games, but the Kings have lost their last two games to franchise opponents. , closing in on Buffalo, which is nearing the longest playoff drought in professional sports. , and the San Jose Sharks, the NHL's worst team by record this season.
Even the marshmallow factory didn't seem to be able to make a soft landing for this game against the Kings. Especially against an Avs team that had won nine straight games and won the 2022 Stanley Cup, despite losing three of their last five games against the Kings. In 2021, the double lash was so bad that the Kings were too dejected to talk after the second game.
That disappointment is returning, but this time the Kings are even more vocal. Kopitar, coach Todd McClellan and alternate captain Drew Doty each jumped out of their bubble wrap and gave candid opinions about the increasingly dire situation.
“Honestly, it feels like a rock bottom for a while now,” admitted Doty, who fell from the top of contention for the playoff bubble in less than a month.
Doughty and Kopitar, the only presence on the 2012 and 2014 championship teams other than primarily decorated No. 4 hitter Trevor Lewis, cut through the neutral zone like a buffalo cutting soft cheese with an industrial saw. After the crushing defeat, he didn't tend to hold back his words much. Doughty was also clear in defending McClellan and placed the blame within the dressing room.
“It's not a coaching staff issue, it's a player issue. I think the coaches on our team have done a great job,” Doughty said.
The night the Kings made their final homestand fiasco at Figueroa (the Kings won't return until Feb. 10 against Edmonton), Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon was active elsewhere.
He got a natural hat trick as part of a four-goal game against the typically solid Washington Capitals. The Kings can only hope he runs out of mojo for now, as a similar effort against Buffalo, where he made mistakes ranging from self-inflicted to suicidal, may have been record-breaking. is.
“The stupidity of that loss was inexplicable,” McClellan said.
Even if you have MacKinnon, an MVP finalist and leading NHL scorer, you'll always have Norris Trophy candidates like Cale Makar (second in scoring as a defenseman to Vancouver's Quinn Hughes) and the Kings' killer. We're going to have to fight. Mikko Rantanen scored five points against Washington. The Finnish winger's 36 points in 27 games against the Kings represents a career high in the fewest games against a franchise (36 points in 28 games vs. Arizona). He scored four points in Colorado's 5-2 season opener and assisted on Colorado's only goal in a 4-1 loss to the Kings on December 3.
Kings at Colorado
when: Friday, 6pm
where: ball arena, denver
tv set: barry sports west