Fresh off their first two-goal comeback of the season in a rare win over the Dallas Stars, the Kings will welcome the cream of the Central Division, the Minnesota Wild, on Saturday.
They had lost four straight to the Stars and all by at least a three-goal margin, but they shut Dallas out for nearly three quarters of the contest and scored three unanswered goals to triumph 3-2 on Wednesday.
Now, they’ll play a Minnesota team that had won four straight heading into its match with the Ducks on Friday to ascend to the peak of not only a competitive division but the entire league.
Against Dallas, the Kings ran an 11-7 alignment for the first time this season, which gave them an extra defenseman and free reign to slice and dice their forward lines throughout the match.
Dating to last season, the Kings have won five consecutive games with the 11-7 configuration. Since Jim Hiller’s first game as head coach, on Feb. 10, they have gone 13-2-1 with that alignment.
Although Akil Thomas was nearing a return, which could open up more 12-forward lineup possibilities, there isn’t much impetus to diverge from what’s worked. In those 16 games, the Kings have a staggering +31 goal differential.
“I played a lot of 11 forwards last year, I’m really comfortable with that. It’s almost a preference at times, to be honest with you,” Hiller said before the Dallas game, hinting at his decision. “Everybody has played with everybody. If you’re a good player, you can play with (anybody) else. I don’t think chemistry seems to be a huge issue.”
The most lopsided victory with the restructured roster came, fittingly, against Minnesota, a 6-0 thrashing on March 20.
For now, even a gritty win in which they were outshot, outperformed on the power play, analytically outplayed and worked over in the faceoff circle emanates an afterglow. That’s especially true since it extended the Kings’ winning streak to a season-high four games, a surge that began with a decisive win against Winnipeg, which was tied with Minnesota for the NHL’s highest points total Friday morning. Hiller said his team’s recent stick-to-it-iveness – he felt they were outplayed against the Ducks and the Ottawa Senators were disappointed after letting a tie game slip away in the third period earlier in the streak –– was a welcome development.
“In the end, you’ve got to find a way to win and I thought that’s what we’ve done here the last three games, is find a way to win in the third, and you don’t just get lucky,” Hiller said.
The Dallas game was not just a feather in the cap of Hiller, but also in the fedoras of general manager Rob Blake and his staff. While his offseason acquisitions were modest, nearly every skater he added impacted the game and scoresheet alike. Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot assisted on each other’s goals while Kyle Burroughs added a helper on Joel Edmundson’s fourth tally of the campaign.
While the Kings got it done with role players chipping in, the Wild have had to lean more heavily on their top players as some notable names have been sidelined. Even before center Joel Eriksson Ek got injured earlier this week, they had been without winger Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jonas Brodin since Nov. 14 and Nov. 25, respectively.
Winger Kirill Kaprizov has been the NHL’s leading scorer at various points, including as recently as Thursday. Entering Friday’s docket, he had three more even-strength points than any other player in the league. Like their star, the Wild has excelled five-on-five, though less so in both areas of special teams. Minnesota has been the league’s stingiest team in terms of its fewest goals allowed and highest save percentage.
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While Kaprizov has run the show up front while Filip Gustavsson has held it down in net, the Wild continue to be anchored on the blue line by former Kings prospect Brock Faber.
Kaprizov leads the entire league in plus-minus rating (plus-19), but Faber’s plus-12 figure matches the mark of Kings team leader Vladislav Gavrikov. Faber was the youngest defenseman named to a 4 Nations Face-Off roster – he’ll represent the United States – and the second-youngest player after Ducks center Leo Carlsson of Sweden.
Minnesota at Kings
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: KCAL (Ch. 9)