The Kings can see the finish line and feel the fresh linens on their own beds as their second seven-game road trip of the season will come to a close with a back-to-back set against the NHL’s worst team by points percentage and, then, its best.
Their weekend will consist of a pair of matinees about 28 hours apart. First, they’ll visit the vastly disappointing Nashville Predators on Saturday before traveling to Washington to face former Kings Pierre-Luc Dubois and Matt Roy, who are now plying their trade with the Capitals.
Friday was a well-deserved day off after Thursday’s 7-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, who led 3-2 behind a pair of quick goals from Tyson Foerster before Kings captain Anže Kopitar’s late second-period equalizer dramatically swung the match’s momentum.
While Kopitar was one of five Kings with a multi-point showing and one of two to score a pair of goals Thursday, the timing of his tallies got them back into a game that had seen too many odd-man rushes against and then put distance between them and their opponents in the third period.
Fellow goal-scorer Warren Foegele twice called Kopitar’s first marker “massive” in the postgame session with reporters in Philadelphia. Hiller said he felt his team had been sapped by the two goals allowed, but that Kopitar restored their resolve. It was Kopitar’s first multi-goal game since the season opener, but he has only been held without a point four times since Oct. 29.
“To be his age and to be out there playing against the other team’s best players night after night, and then making an offensive contribution too, while leading the team, I don’t know, that’s really, really difficult to do,” Hiller said. “I know that it’s difficult to do it at 25, never mind at 37.”
Though a pair of academic goals – Quinton Byfield’s empty-netter and then Kevin Fiala’s second tally of the night – padded the score, the victory recaptured some of the Kings’ third-period magic after fizzling during the final frame in Pittsburgh.
More broadly, since their last poor third period in a 7-2 loss to San Jose, the Kings have gone 8-1-1 with a +18 goal differential. That’s the best record in the NHL for a team’s last 10 games, and only Edmonton (8-2-0) has as many victories in its past 10 decisions.
Conversely, Philadelphia moved to 1-5-0 in the tail end of back-to-back sets, compiling a -12 disparity across those six contests. The Kings have split the front portions of their four pairs of consecutive games but are 4-0-0 in the second half with a +13 goal differential.
On Saturday, they’ll slug it out with a Nashville club whose huge splash in free agency turned out to be nothing but a belly flop. After adding two-time Stanley Cup champion Steven Stamkos, 2023 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault and highly seasoned defenseman Brady Skjei, the Predators have gone from a playoff berth last season to having the NHL’s lowest point total and worst points percentage.
That trio has combined for a tepid 50 points and injuries in the defense corps have further fettered the Preds. Jeremy Lauzon returned to action in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Penguins, but captain Roman Josi missed a fourth straight game. He should be considered questionable for the contest against the Kings. Josi’s minus-21 rating is the third worst in the league and he’s the only player with a -18 rating or worse with more than 10 points, bearing the brunt of Nashville’s struggles.
The Capitals, who were also a wild-card team last season, have trended upward, compiling a .710 points percentage entering Friday’s showdown with the Carolina Hurricanes. Leading scorer Dylan Strome’s emergence as a bona fide No. 1 center has been aided by Dubois filling the two-hole behind him, distancing the 26-year-old pivot from a calamitous season in Los Angeles that saw him thrown overboard after just one campaign of an eight-year, $68 million contract.
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Roy, whose departure was unceremonious and free of drama, missed nearly a month at the outset of the season but has been a steady presence on the blue line while chipping in seven points in 21 games.
Kings at Nashville
When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville
How to watch: FDSNW, NHL Network
Kings at Washington
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
How to watch: FDSNW