Fans and observers of the LA Kings this season have probably wondered which version of the LA Kings will show up on any given night. Will it be the team boasting a 19-3-3 home record with victories over defending champs Florida and league-best Winnipeg, or the 12-15-5 away version with two road losses to the San Jose Sharks under its belt?
For an organization that considers itself a Stanley Cup contender, are these home/road splits indicative of a team that can make a serious playoff run? Recent Stanley Cup champions would say no.
Looking back at the last ten Cup winners tells us that no team has finished under .500 on the road during the regular season. The “worst” regular season road record among recent Cup winners belongs to the 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins, at 19-15-7. With LA currently at just 12 road wins, matching the Pens’ 19 road wins would already be some tough sledding.
In case you are curious, the 2014 Stanley Cup-winning LA Kings went 24-14-4 away from home, while the 2012 champs posted an 18-13-10 record on the road on the way to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. Long story short, finishing under .500 on the road during the regular season does not appear to be a recipe for success in the playoffs.
Even to match the 2012 squad’s 18 road victories, this year’s team would have its work cut out for them. LA only has nine road games remaining this year, so they would have to win at least six. Doable? Perhaps, but LA would need individuals to step up in a big way.
Captain Anze Kopitar has registered six points (1 G 5 A) over his last 15 games. Forward Alex Turcotte has one assist over the same number of games. Getting more production from these two might help LA break the .500 mark on the road. Collectively, the LA offense has to be better at burying its chances. In just the past two games against Vancouver and Dallas, multiple Kings forwards had Grade-A chances that were air-mailed over the net or clanked off posts and pipes. It’s in these areas that contenders differentiate themselves from pretenders.
Goalie David Rittich embodies the feast-or-famine nature of this LA team. On home ice, “Big Save” Dave is 9-2-2 with a 2.20 GAA and .920 save percentage; on the road: 3-9-0 with a 3.09 GAA and .870 save percentage. However, LA’s travel woes can’t all be placed at Rittich’s feet. The power play has been an ongoing problem all season, and there have been stretches where playing a full 60 minutes of hockey has been elusive.
The mantra of “just get into the playoffs, and anything can happen” still may hold true, but trying to do it with a sub-500 winning percentage on the road has not worked out historically. And believing that things might be different for this Kings team might require a lot of magical thinking.