LA Kings: Quick Thoughts Heading Into Olympic Break

In the wake of the Los Angeles Kings’ franchise record nine-game winning streak, head coach Terry Murray has juggled the line combinations in search of something better, combinations which appeared to be developing good chemistry in prior games included Brad Richardson-Anze Kopitar-Wayne Simmonds and Ryan Smyth-Jarret Stoll-Dustin Brown.

During the morning skate prior to the February 8 road game against the Anaheim Ducks, Murray swapped centers on those two lines. In the 4-2 loss to Anaheim, the Kings team appeared a step slow most of the game and also showed very little chemistry among the top two forward lines.

The next game was at home on February 11 against the Edmonton Oilers, a team with an eleven-game road losing streak—their last road win was on December 11 against the St. Louis Blues.

Murray continued tweaking the forward lines including combinations of Alexander Frolov-Michal Handzus-Stoll and Richard Clune-Richardson-Simmonds.

Clune was recalled from the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings’ primary minor league affiliate) on February 11, following the loss of forward Brandon Segal on waivers to the Dallas Stars. New defensive pairings of Drew Doughty-Jack Johnson, Sean O’Donnell-Matt Greene, and Davis Drewiske-Rob Scuderi were also used.

The Kings were outworked and outplayed by the league-worst Oilers for the majority of the game even though the Oilers played at Anaheim the previous night. The result was a 3-2 loss courtesy of a ten-round shootout with former Kings defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky scoring the deciding goal against netminder Erik Ersberg. Considering the poor effort, the Kings were fortunate to have earned a point in the game, the result of late flurry that was too little, too late.

Heading into the National Hockey League’s Olympic break, the Kings will conclude their February schedule by hosting the Colorado Avalanche on February 13, the first of four meetings between the two teams in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture. One potential advantage for the Kings is that the Avalanche played a home game last night against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Regardless of the recent line combinations and defensive pairings utilized, the Kings will need to turns things around by getting off to a strong start, making a statement to the Avalanche that it will be a tough game. A win would send the Kings into the break on a high note and will allow those not representing their countries in Vancouver a brief respite before the stretch run to the playoffs begins.

Bruce Fung grew up in the Los Angeles area and has followed the Los Angeles Kings and their young prospects in the minors, juniors, college and in Europe since the days of the old “Forum Blue and Gold” jerseys.