The Los Angeles Kings have the worst penalty kill in the NHL so far this season, and that shortcoming could pose a problem when they host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
The Kings have killed just 62.5% of the penalties they’ve faced, while the Predators have scored on 29.8% of their power plays, which is fourth-best in the league.
Los Angeles has allowed at least one power-play goal in each of its past six games, including five in the past three games.
That’s one of the reasons the Kings have struggled to establish consistency of late, alternating wins and losses over their past eight games. They most recently lost to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Saturday night.
“We could have good stretches and (then) you give up one or two on the PK and you lose by a goal,” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “What we want to do is we want to help win games, and right now we’re not doing it. You have to keep learning from it, but at a certain point, we all have to keep owning up and get it done. We can’t just keep saying we’re going to learn, we’re going to learn. It’s got to get better.”
Anderson said there isn’t any one issue that’s causing the breakdowns on the penalty kill.
“I feel like all of them are different,” Anderson said. “There’s maybe three or four plays within the time of them being in the zone where you need to get a puck out. Maybe you can get a stick, you win a battle and just getting it past the blue line to reset for a second.”
Taking better care of the puck and limiting turnovers is also an area of concern for Kings coach Peter Laviolette.
“Turnovers are a big deal,” Laviolette said. “Football, basketball, baseball, hockey. If you don’t execute with what you’re trying to do out there, it usually leads to possible runs coming back at you, possible goals coming back at you, points coming back at you.”
The Predators have won four in a row following their 3-1 victory at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Steven Stamkos, who had a goal and an assist in the latest win, said confidence can be easy to gain, but just as easy to lose.
“When you have it, you just try to keep that snowball rolling. It’s contagious. You can tell in the room,” Stamkos said. “Everyone is doing their job. Everyone has a role … and that’s what really good teams have. We feel we’re a good team.”
Nashville comes in with not only the fourth-best power play in the NHL, but also the third-best penalty kill at 88.5%.
“Special teams (are) big,” Stamkos said. “When we have the penalty kill that we have, and the power play like we have, it’s going to help us win games.”
Stamkos’ goal against the Blues came with the man-advantage. It was the 248th power-play goal of his career, giving him sole possession of fifth place in NHL history.
“He’s passing guys every night, it feels like, which is great for us, and (we’re) really happy for him,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said of Stamkos. “This is his team now. You can feel it. He rises to those big moments, and he’s feeling it right now. He’s having fun playing hockey.”