Data Driven: A numbers looks at LA Kings 5, Carolina Hurricanes 6

Game two of the 2023-24 LA Kings season was bizarre, to say the least. The Kings clawed back from a 5-2 deficit to send the game into overtime, ultimately losing to the Carolina Hurricanes 6-5 in a shootout. Let’s take a peek under the hood.

(Stats per Natural Stat Trick)

5-on-5 Stats

Before you could seemingly blink, the Kings were down 3-0 in this game. Carolina held three-goal leads of 3-0, 4-1, and 5-2; and yet at 5-on-5, LA controlled much of the play. In the first period, despite falling behind quickly, the hosts finished the opening frame with a 12-3 edge in scoring chances. By the end of regulation, LA finished with 25 scoring chances to Carolina’s 10.

It was a similar story in high-danger chances. The Kings ended the game with eight, while the Hurricanes mustered only three.

When looking at the performances of each forward line, the Anze Kopitar line had the bulk of the 5-on-5 minutes, while the Phillip Danault line was dominant across the board. Carl Grundstrom filled in nicely for the injured Viktor Arvidsson.

The Dubois line allowed just two shot attempts against when on the ice together and held a 5-0 edge in scoring chances.

On the back end, it was a very strong night for the top pair of Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty

With so many penalties in this one, the Kings really didn’t roll out a third pairing all that often. Andreas Englund and Jordan Spence only played two minutes together at 5-on-5. They each spent more minutes at 5-on-5 with someone else: Englund with Matt Roy and Spence with Vladislav Gavrikov with varying results.

What was most impressive about the Anderson-Doughty pairing was who they were matched up with. Doughty was on the ice the most against Michael Bunting, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis – the Kings were dominant in this matchup. Aho, arguably Carolina’s best player, wasn’t on the ice for a single shot attempt at 5-on-5 when on the ice against Doughty.

Special Teams

Special Teams was a big story. LA converted two of seven power play opportunities – while also allowing two short-handed goals against. Carolina went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

There were times when the power play looked good for the Kings, particularly on the Anze Kopitar power-play goal with quick, efficient puck movement. That said, the team generated just seven scoring chances and only three high-danger chances. Considering there were seven opportunities, you’d hope to see some more scoring chances.

I thought Jordan Spence brought a whole different element to the second unit. At times on Saturday, they were the better option, including a quick strike on Trevor Moore’s power-play goal in the second period.

With Arvidsson out for a while, we’ll see how the LA Kings power play ultimately settles in. Surely, Arthur Kaliyev’s return next week will help.

Individual 5-on-5 Stats

Shot Attempts

In looking at the on-ice shot attempts, the dominance of Anderson-Doughty checks out.

Kevin Fiala had a good day in terms of CF%, but it was a low-event game for him (well, in terms of shot attempts anyway…).

The line of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Laferriere, and Fiala was very strong.

Vladislav Gavrikov and Matt Roy were pretty high-event when on the ice together. A random note on Gavrikov: the LA Kings have allowed nine goals this season (excluding the empty netter against Colorado). Gavrikov has been on the ice for six of them. That’s not to say he’s been at fault, but for someone who was part of an utterly dominant pair at the end of last season, it’s strange to see that. I suspect that will settle.

Scoring Chances

It’s good to see the fourth line of Blake Lizotte (more on him later), Jaret Anderson-Dolan, and Trevor Lewis control the scoring chances battle. At the very least, you want your fourth line to spend more time in the opponent’s zone, even if the production is minimal.

As noted above, the Dubois and Danault lines were pretty dominant on Saturday night.

Shot Contributions

How many times do we have to go over this with Blake Lizotte? In just under seven minutes of ice time, Lizotte compiled eight shot contributions, including a team-leading five shot assists. Few players do as much with so little ice time.

Andreas Englund might be the most low-event player in hockey history. I’ll take this time to say that while Englund hasn’t been bad necessarily these first two games, there couldn’t be any less upside. When games like these first two play out the way they have with the Kings chasing the game, Englund gets left out in the cold. I can’t say I consider him a stabilizing shut-down defenseman at this point, so I’m still not sure what his role ultimately is.

Quinton Byfield led all Kings’ skaters in shot attempts with six. He’s been much more assertive and shot-first this season. Byfield is second only to fellow youngster Alex Laferriere in shot attempts per 60 minutes through LA’s first two games.

Laferriere leads the team in overall shot contributions while Lizotte leads in shot contributions per 60.

Between the pipes

It wasn’t the best season debut for Pheonix Copley as he allowed five goals on just 19 shots. They weren’t all his fault, but there were a couple that you’d need your goaltender to have. Per Evolving Hockey, Copley finished with a -2.74 GSAx. For comparison, EH had Cam Talbot at -0.3 in the season opener.

The question around the LA Kings’ goaltending isn’t going away any time soon. But that said, we’re two games into the season and if you check the scores across the NHL, many of them are high-scoring. Teams are not at their best when it comes to defensive zone structure in the early stages of the season, so it’s not something I’m overly concerned about at this time.

For the second straight game, the Kings were pretty good at 5-on-5. Considering both of these opponents could be considered Stanley Cup contenders, there are positives to take out of these two losses.

Up next

The LA Kings hit the road for a mini two-game road trip next week beginning in Winnipeg on Tuesday. They’ll be in Minnesota on Thursday.

(Main Photo Credit: Yannick Peterhans, USA TODAY Sports)