The NHL’s three-day Christmas break couldn’t come at a better time for the Kings, who have suddenly gone cold as a winter frost.
With Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena, the Kings head into the schedule pause having lost six of their last seven. And things aren’t getting easier any time soon: when the Kings return to the ice Saturday, they will host the division-leading Ducks before closing out 2025 Monday in Colorado against the Avalanche, the best team in the NHL.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to make sense of things,” coach Jim Hiller said when asked to explain the Kings’ mid-winter slump, which has dropped them into the middle of the Pacific Division standings. “We just feel like we haven't had a good run of games where we felt like, win or lose, we really like how we're playing.
“That's something that we'll keep driving towards. We just haven't had it yet.”
Read more:Kings struggle to stop Blue Jackets on the power play in loss
It’s not just that the Kings (15-12-9) are losing, but how they are losing that is most concerning.
The team, which started Tuesday 31st in the 32-team NHL in scoring and on the power play, has collected more than two goals just twice in 11 games this month. And that’s negated a defense that has given up just 91 goals, second-fewest in the league.
Hiller, who might be on the hot seat a season after guiding the Kings to their best regular season in franchise history, tried to shake things up Tuesday by mixing his lines, most significantly pairing wingers Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko on a line centered by Alex Turcotte.
And while Fiala and Kuzmenko responded with goals, it wasn’t enough.
After a scoreless first period, Seattle (15-14-6) went in front to stay 70 seconds into the second when Jordan Eberle, left alone in front of the Kings’ net, had plenty of time and space to settle a pass from Matty Beniers before lifting the puck around goaltender Pheonix Copley and under the crossbar for his 13th goal of the season.
It was the fourth power-play goal the Kings had given up in the last two nights, and the sixth in four games.
The Kraken doubled their lead on a quirky goal less than eight minutes later, with Copley misjudging a deflected shot from Seattle’s Frederick Gaudreau, allowing the puck to knuckle off his glove then trickle through his legs for the goal.
Ben Meyers extended Seattle’s lead to 3-0 with less than four minutes left in the second before the Kings finally got on the board with an unassisted goal from Fiala, his 13th of the season, 11 seconds later.
Kuzmenko pulled the Kings within a goal on a wraparound score, his seventh of the season, with more than 11 minutes to play. But that was all the Kings got. Kraken goalie Joey Daccord held off a frantic attack in the final minutes, stopping 35 shots, and Fiala rang a shot off the crossbar in the final seconds to give Seattle its second win over the Kings in two weeks and its first three-game winning streak of the season.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.