With the Stanley Cup playoffs coming up shortly, here are three improvements the Los Angeles Kings must make before their first-round matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.
The Los Angeles Kings are preparing for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In the lead-up to this post-season, it's been a roller coaster year for the Kings, and they almost didn't earn a playoff berth.
There were long stretches of this regular season that Los Angeles would like back, or to forget about entirely. Add that to the ultimate decision to fire Jim Hiller and make way for D.J. Smith, and it certainly wasn't a pretty year.
Nonetheless, the Kings are in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and that's all that matters. But looking back at how they played in the regular season, there are certainly a number of areas where the team must improve if they want to make an impact in the post-season.
Here are three improvements the Kings must make going into their first-round series against the Avalanche.
Home Record
For some strange reason, the Kings haven't been very good at home this season. Among all teams going to the playoffs, Los Angeles has the fewest home wins with 15. In fact, they have the fourth-fewest home wins in the NHL.
Their home record is certainly a head-scratcher, especially considering how well the Kings played at Crypto.com Arena last season. In 2024-25, Los Angeles registered a remarkable 31-6-4 record at home, the best in the league.
The Kings will need to find that gear again for their home games in the post-season. They won't have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and wins are already difficult to come by at this time of the year.
Therefore, Los Angeles can't afford to drop any home games and must put in their greatest effort in front of its fans.
Special Teams
Los Angeles has been a bottom-five team in the league in special teams, both the penalty kill and power play.
The Kings finished the campaign with the fifth-worst power play in the NHL. It executed at 17.0 percent, and that won't be good enough for the playoffs.
Teams will get fewer opportunities on the man-advantage, meaning the Kings won't have many opportunities to get their power play right. And if Los Angeles plans to play a tight-checking game, like they always do, those power-play chances will need to be taken. In some instances, a good power play can be the reason a team advances to the next round.
The same can be said about the penalty kill and how crucial it is to fix that for the playoffs.
For a team that takes pride in being defensively sound, the Kings are third-last in the NHL in penalty killing, producing at a 74.6 percent rate. Since Smith was given the reins behind the bench, the Kings' rate on the penalty kill is actually the worst in the league at 70.6 percent.
They'll need to button that up before Game 1 on Sunday, going up against a high-flying offensive team like Colorado.
Closing Out In Overtime
It's been incredible how the Kings consistently required overtime during the regular season this year. In fact, Los Angeles set an NHL record for the most overtime and shootout losses in one season (20), and the most games needing an extra frame in one campaign (33).
They benefited from those overtime losses in the regular season to some degree. With each loss in the extra frame, they were still permitted one loser point.
However, it's a whole new ball game in the post-season. Teams don't get any sort of consolation reward for losing in overtime in the playoffs.
The difference now is that teams will compete regularly at 5-on-5 rather than the regular season overtime format of 3-on-3 for five minutes and a shootout to follow.
Nonetheless, breaking NHL records for not getting the job done in overtime must be left in the rearview mirror for the Kings going into this post-season.
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