The Los Angeles Kings have been struggling to score all series long. After Game 3’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Kings are tied with the second-fewest goals scored in the Stanley Cup playoffs with four.
Only the Ottawa Senators have fewer goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that shares a four-goal total with the Kings. All three teams are down 3-0 in their respective series.
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The bottom line for Los Angeles is that they’ve struggled offensively, with the top line of Artemi Panarin, Anze Kopitar, and Adrian Kempe should take a bigger part of the blame for that. It may be time to change the look of that line ahead of Game 4.
Game 3 is a great example of why the team’s first line hasn’t had the answer in these playoffs. Panarin, Kopitar and Kempe combined for a minus-nine plus-minus rating, including for the empty-net goal that Brock Nelson scored to close out the game.
On Friday’s off day for Los Angeles, interim coach D.J. Smith spoke about how the effort is there on the ice, but he’s looking for results.
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“As well as we’ve played, in my opinion, there’s some guys that can play better,” Smith told reporters. “There’s a few guys that I think can play better. Not for a lack of effort, (but) better execution.”
In addition to that performance from the Kings’ top line, that forward trio is yet to record an even-strength point in the series.
Panarin leads the team in scoring with two goals and three points, but every single marker he’s contributed to has been on the power play.
Artemi Panarin (Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images)
The same can be said about Kempe, who has just one point in this series. It was Los Angeles’ second goal in Game 3 on the mad advantage, and with the goalie pulled.
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As for Kopitar, the Kings captain hasn’t registered any sort of scoring and could very well be making his final NHL appearance in Game 4 on Sunday.
With the makeup of the top line on a downward trajectory in terms of form, it’s a good time for Smith to try something new and mix up the personnel. Especially since the Kings are in a position where they have nothing to lose, against a team they had no business competing with.
“I think you got to think about everything,” Smith said. “Whether it’s jumble the top six, move a guy up, move a guy down… we’re going to look at all possibilities to win one game.”
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