There were some notable differences in D.J. Smith's Los Angeles Kings, who were defeated by the league-leading Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Monday. There's more speed, physicality and youth with these 'new' Kings.
D.J. Smith's first game as the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings is in the books, and it was a 4-2 loss to the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.
While the score didn't go Los Angeles' way - and neither did the shot clock or puck possession time - the Kings looked slightly different on the ice with Smith now calling the shots.
For starters, the Kings had three players make their NHL debuts in this contest. Defenseman Angus Booth, right winger Jared Wright and center Kenny Connors were fairly noticeable in what was their first taste of action in The Show.
Before Monday's game, that trio, who have spent all of this season in the AHL with the Ontario Reign. With that, they are also the first players to make their NHL debuts among Kings players who were drafted in 2022 or later.
Even though the Kings were undermanned with injuries, that statistic says a lot about D.J. Smith and the trust he has in the youngsters of the organization.
With the injection of youth into the Kings' lineup, not only did the lineup look different on paper, but they played differently, too.
The defense-first mindset was still there, but there was far more pushback on the mighty Avalanche. There was a clear step up in the team's aggression, specifically on the forecheck, and there was some noticeable speed on the rush.
"What we wanted to establish is a sense of work ethic, a sense of physicality, a sense of we’re not going to sit back, we’re going to come get you," coach Smith told reporters after the game. "I think we did all those things tonight. So, you need the points for sure, but at this point, you can’t fault the effort, and we’re going to need that every game.
"Now, it didn’t look good early. We made some mistakes, we gave up too many odd man rushes, but what you saw from that group is a real effort to forecheck, a real effort to get pucks back, to hunt, to hit people, and you’re going to see that the rest of the way," the interim bench boss added.
Taylor Ward (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)Smith wasn't afraid to make tweaks to the Kings' lineup throughout the game, either. Alex Laferriere started the game on the right wing with Alex Turcotte in the middle and Warren Foegele on the left wing. But later, Smith brought Laferriere back to the middle, and Corey Perry was bumped up to that line on the right flank.
Additionally, there was a relatively even distribution of ice time for the majority of the team's forward group. Anze Kopitar's line with Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe on his flanks had a positive influence on the game, despite no even-strength scoring from them.
Furthermore, the Kings' bottom six earned some regular ice time in the second half of the contest and imposed their will physically, especially the fourth line of Samuel Helenius, Jeff Malott, and Taylor Ward.
Like Smith said after the game, it's too late for moral victories. However, there are some promising developments from a Smith-flavored performance.
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