The Los Angeles Kings and coach Jim Hiller have experimented with a new top-heavy forward group over the last two games. How have they fared with the new top six?
On Friday and Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings experimented with a new lineup, specifically adjusting the top-six forward group.
While Kings coach Jim Hiller has some sort of balance throughout the lineup, going into last weekend, he structured his team to be a little more top-heavy, creating a ‘nuclear’ lineup, if you will.
The first line is made up of Kevin Fiala on the left, Quinton Byfield in the middle, and Adrian Kempe on the right. Following that line is captain Anze Kopitar at center, with Trevor Moore and Andrei Kuzmenko on the left and right wings, respectively.
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Los Angeles lost both games in a back-to-back, albeit beyond regulation, earning a point from each contest.
In terms of how this top-heavy lineup fared, there are multiple ways to look at it.
The most popular way to judge is by looking at the box score to see how they contributed offensively.
Those numbers would say that they weren’t terrible. In fact, in Los Angeles’ 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks, the new top six combined for two goals and three assists. The only player on the scoresheet who wasn’t a part of the top half of the Kings' forward group was Joel Armia, who scored a shorthanded goal.
Los Angeles’ next game was a bit different as there were no goals until about eight minutes into the third period, when Boston Bruins’ Morgan Geekie scored his first of two tallies.
So, it was a tight-checking affair, which is what the Kings thrive on, their defensive game. With that, Moore was involved in the Kings’ lone goal that came on the penalty kill, by Armia again.
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With contributions on the scoresheet, they received plenty of ice time as well.
Against the Sharks, four out of Los Angeles’ top six played over 20 minutes, including Kempe, who played 24:36, the most of any player of either team in that game.
However, against the Bruins, only Byfield cracked the 20-minute mark.
The reason for less ice time in that game comes with the negative aspect of using a top-heavy lineup, specifically in the Kings’ case.
Throughout the Boston game, Los Angeles was hemmed in their own zone for some notably long stretches. Most of the time, it was the Kings’ bottom six that would get trapped in their own zone.
The domino effect of that takes ice time away from the stars, resulting in the team being less effective offensively. So, it wasn’t a surprise to see Hiller’s side but up the one goal, shorthanded as mentioned.
On another note, it’s still early in this trial, and there’s a possibility that this experiment improves, or it gets nixed as early as this week.
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