The Kings’ upcoming five-game road trip could very well be sponsored by Southwest Airlines, because this is a team that wants to get away, and badly.
They’re off to their worst start in over 40 years (0-4-2), they’re the NHL’s last winless team in 2026-27 and they’ve held neither a multi-goal lead nor any lead past 3:49 of the second period all season.
After quelling both shorthanded situations in a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins, they still had the league’s second-worst penalty kill, and the lifelessness of their power play sunk it to seventh from the bottom.
There’s plenty to fret about, as there was at this time last season when the Kings had just one win in their first six games. Then, they hit the road for five games as well, earning nine of a possible 10 points. Coupled with their next long road swing, a six-game stretch on which they collected nine of 12 points, it was probably their best hockey of a forgettable season that squeaked them into the playoffs.
“Road trips are a good way to find your identity and find your way as a team,” forward Alex Laferriere said. “It’s going to be big for us. We’re gonna be leaning on our leadership. We know those guys are gonna step up for us, so we’ve got to try and do the same for them.”
Laferriere, who moved from flanker to pivot, centering the top line against the Bruins that he grew up rooting for, scored the lone goal versus Boston. He did the same in the Kings’ home opener against the Florida Panthers. That’s not unusual this season, as the Kings have toiled for a solitary goal in four straight games for the first time since 2018-19, when they nosedived into an unexpected rebuild.
They might be in the process of doing the same thing presently. General Manager Ken Holland continued adding age to the roster as if he were trying to win now, but the Kings plummeted 15 points in the standings last year, qualifying for a 16-team playoff with the league’s 20th best record, fifth-fewest wins and second-fewest regulation wins.
With this start, that sort of limboing into the postseason seems like a best-case scenario.
While their expected goals against are lower than their actual goals allowed and their expected goals for are higher than their actual goals scored, per MoneyPuck, there seems to be little in the way of confidence or coherence in this iteration of the Kings.
“It’s easy to blame it on the bounces, but our work ethic is just not good enough right now. When we start working harder, we’re gonna get those bounces,” Laferriere said.
That industriousness will have to take seed against a string of opponents that will pit the Kings against familiar faces and prominent names alike.
They’ll start Tuesday in D.C. against the Washington Capitals. Caps captain and all-time leading NHL goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin announced this season will be his last. Former Kings Matt Roy (lower-body injury) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (illness) have been out of action of late but were progressing toward returns.
Thursday will take them to Long Island for a clash with the New York Islanders, who got a franchise defenseman in Matthew Schaefer before last season and a renowned coach at the campaign’s end. Peter DeBoer coached the New Jersey Devils against the Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final before heading west to guide San Jose, Vegas and Dallas. He has a 9-0 record in Game 7s and, fittingly, coached former King Justin “Mr. Game 7” Williams in the junior ranks.
On Saturday, they’ll head to Newark to face two of the three Hughes brothers, Jack and Luke, and the rest of the Devils.
Monday and Tuesday of the following week will bring a big-city back-to-back set against the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, who recently got franchise player Connor Bedard back after offseason shoulder surgery. Old chums Vladislav Gavrikov, who set a career high for points in his first season with the Rangers last year, and Sean Durzi, who’s in his first tour of duty with the Blueshirts, will be on hand Monday.