The Kings’ early season schedule has been tough and the results have been rough.
There will be no respite on Tuesday night when they play host to the archrival Edmonton Oilers.
So far this season, the Kings have already faced three opponents that accounted for four of the last five Stanley Cup championships and three of the past six Presidents’ trophies.
Most recently, they dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Vegas Golden Knights, who went to the Cup Final last season and won the title in 2023. That murderers’ row will get another lethal opponent when the Oilers, who won consecutive Western Conference crowns before bowing out in the first round last year, hit the ice.
Yet the Florida Panthers, who bested Edmonton for titles in 2024 and 2025, missed the playoffs last year amid a spate of injuries and were already dealing with a similar hindrance this season when they beat the Kings, 2-1. The San Jose Sharks, who haven’t qualified for the postseason since 2019, also contributed to the winless (0-2-2) start for the Peter Laviolette era.
“It was a short training camp with all new systems, and we’re playing against the top teams in the league. We’re right there with them, right now, it’d just be nice to get one of these wins,” goaltender Darcy Kuemper told reporters in Las Vegas.
The phrase “right there” would be innocuous to virtually any fan base, but not to the Kings’ faithful, who heard it from team president Luc Robitaille after the team’s five-game dismissal against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
Kuemper also said he had been pleased with his own game, which has improved with each successive start since allowing eight goals during the season opener against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
Yet now that the Kings can get a save, they can’t seem to get a goal. In back-to-back games, they eked out just one goal and made a farce of a five-on-three power play, something winger Adrian Kempe called “unacceptable.”
The Kings started out with just one win in their first six games last season, and they never really found their footing. Streaks of three, four and five victories were their only surges that went beyond two games, with the five-game streak coming against non-playoff competition before losses to bottom-dwelling Calgary and Vancouver to close the campaign.
The penalty kill has continued to be a sore spot for the Kings, who have killed just nine of 16 penalties and been shorthanded four times per game on average. They finished 30th of 32 NHL squads last year, and are currently 31st after both of Vegas’ goals came with the extra man.
Kings general manager Ken Holland said they could not repeat that lackluster performance and expect to make the playoffs. His hands-off approach to the PK personnel made that something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Tuesday night, they’ll face his former team, the one with the best power-play numbers in the NHL over the past decade, and a new coach, former Ducks bench boss Mike Babcock.
The Kings remain one of three winless franchises in 2026-27. Lottery-bound Calgary was not overly stunned to find itself among them, but the Philadelphia Flyers are off to the worst start in franchise history after reaching the second round of the playoffs last spring.
Round 2 is uncharted territory for every career King except 36-year-old captain Drew Doughty. The Kings have not won a playoff series since 2014. They dropped four straight first-round series to these same Oilers – who feature the NHL’s top two scorers in Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard – and then were swept by Colorado this past April.
They have lost some shine in the regular season as well. Over last season and the nascent stage of this one, the Kings have the second-fewest regulation wins and the fourth-fewest wins overall in the league. In Las Vegas, Kuemper said they had to channel their energy and emotions in a productive fashion.
“Frustration can be a good thing, if you use it the right way,” Kuemper said. “We’re competitors in here. We hate losing; we want to win. We’ve just got to use that fuel the right way.”
OILERS AT KINGS
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: ABTV, 710 AM, 830 AM