The Kings put together one of their more complete games this season to come away with an overtime thrilling victory.
It's hard to ever get a fanbase to agree on one side, but one thing everyone has acknowledged this season is the Kings' struggle to beat good teams.
Los Angeles is 13-10-11 against teams that are above .500 with more wins than losses, and entering Monday's early afternoon match against the Columbus Blue Jackets, they had just four victories in their last 16 games against teams with winning records.
Struggles Against Winning Teams
Before beating the New York Islanders on Thursday, they hadn't beaten a team over .500 since Jan. 27, when they defeated the Detroit Red Wings. The Kings finally beat a solid team that was above .500 on Monday after blowing a lead against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, another team that was above .500.
It wasn't just that they beat a good team that made this one of their best wins of the season, but also how they did it. Los Angeles has a tendency to actually play very well against contending teams, jumping out to big leads, but as you take a closer look at the record, they lose more close games than they actually get blown out.
The Kings have lost 11 games in overtime or a shootout against teams with more wins than losses, when they've held leads and fallen apart in the clutch. But today, even without most of their forwards, including Joel Armia, Kevin Fiala, and Andrei Kuzmenko, Los Angeles established dominance from the start and shut the door in the end.
We saw multiple forwards putting in the effort tonight, despite the injuries. Brian Dumoulin, Artemi Panarin, Scott Laughton, Adrian Kempe, etc wasted no time getting going offensively on ice, constantly putting pressure on the Blue Jackets to find an answer on defense.
And even on the verge of blowing another lead that has Kings fans prepared, which has regularly happened this season, Los Angeles found a way to win and avoid another disastrous heartbreak.
"We found a way to win. Of late, we find ways to lose; we found a way to win tonight," Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said postgame."
Kempe, Panarin, and Dumoulin led the way for Los Angeles' dominant offensive outing, each combining to score seven points and five goals. Los Angeles always has a chance to win when multiple players put up big numbers in the box score and get help from their depth, which is what they got from Dumoulin today.
LA was not only aggressive on offense this afternoon, but was also impressive on defense, despite giving up four goals. Golatender Anton Forsberg, especially, lifted the team's defense whenever Columbus was on the verge of scoring. Forbserg anchored the defense and took pressure off the Kings' forwards to score, and provided a total team effort in the win.
In the late stretches of this game, when the Blue Jackets made their run to take the lead, Dumoulin responded with a clutch goal, and Kempe finished things off in overtime to never let Columbus taste victory.
Inside the Kings' locker room, the win was business as usual, and a must-win. The goal is to never celebrate early or get too low. They were able to secure a solid win against a team that's solid at home, with a 17-8-7 record, but plenty more tests are on the way, with Boston next and games against Utah, Seattle, and Edmonton looming.
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