Jack Weber 
Photo credit: Harry How/Getty Images
The LA Kings put together another strong performance to take down one of the top teams in the NHL this season.
The LA Kings continued their homestand on Monday against a surprising New York Rangers club that has been at or near the top of the Metropolitan Division standings all season. They didn’t look that way against the Kings, though. LA dominated the play for most of the night and survived a late push by New York to pull out a 3-1 victory.
Goal breakdown
LAK: Danault (7), Assists: Moore (8)
LAK: Lizotte (4), Assists: Arvidsson (12), Moore (9)
NYR: Zibanejad (13), Assists: Chytil (6), McKegg (2)
LAK: Kempe (16), Assists: Kopitar (21) – Empty-net goal
Stats:
Goals
LAK: 3
NYR: 1
Shots on goal:
LAK: 39
NYR: 23
Hits:
LAK: 24
NYR: 25
Faceoff percentage:
LAK: 39%
NYR: 61%
Power plays:
LAK: 0/3
NYR: 0/2
Three things that stood out:
1. The Kings are on a heater
They’re not on the kind of winning streak or high enough in the standings yet to get a ton of attention around the league, but the Kings are playing very good hockey right now.
Not only have they won four of their last five games, but in four of those games, they outshot their opponent by at least 16. That they were able to put together that type of game against a team of the Rangers’ caliber is a great sign.
The Kings could still stand to benefit from better finishing. They let the Rangers hang around on Monday, and it almost came back to bite them. You could argue that LA should be winning these games by more with how much the rink has been tilted toward the other team’s net. Still, this may be the best hockey the Kings have played since Todd McLellan took over as head coach.