News Article: Why the Kings Have Been Bad on the Road

Jason Lewis

Registered User
Oct 4, 2011
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http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=65341

It is an eyesore and it is a talking point.

The Kings have been bad on the road. Or at least that is what their record would convey.

With a feeble 5-8-6 record on the road, the fourth fewest road wins in the NHL, it is hard to argue anything else. They have been bad on the road.

However, when you have a team like the Kings that dominates possession metrics it is hard to believe that the woes will continues. Our best friend, regression...


As always, I love reading the discussion that you guys have regarding this stuff. Thanks for reading if you do! :)
 

Ollie Weeks

the sea does not dream of you
Feb 28, 2008
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We can only hope that our micro regression down is part of our macro regression up.

So say we all.
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
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Those bad starts you mentioned are killing us. Once a team has a two goal lead early in the game, a lot of the time they're going to play more conservatively and drive our possession numbers up over the course of the rest of the game. I was surprised to see the +44 in road scoring chances though, it hasn't really felt that way.
 

Captain Mittens*

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Regression is not my best friend. Buddy the Elf is my best friend
 

Ron*

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qYZ5HG.png
 

Ron*

Guest
Those bad starts you mentioned are killing us. Once a team has a two goal lead early in the game, a lot of the time they're going to play more conservatively and drive our possession numbers up over the course of the rest of the game. I was surprised to see the +44 in road scoring chances though, it hasn't really felt that way.

43 of those 44 chances were Lewis shooting the puck directly on the goalie logo.
 

Captain Mittens*

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43 of those 44 bchances were Lewis shooting the puck directly on the goalie logo.

One of these days the goalie is going to instinctively jump out of the way and Trevor is going to have the last laugh.
 

Jason Lewis

Registered User
Oct 4, 2011
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One of these days the goalie is going to instinctively jump out of the way and Trevor is going to have the last laugh.

In a world where goalies have hollow chests, Trevor Lewis is a 40-goal scorer.


Breakaways are also outlawed.
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
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43 of those 44 chances were Lewis shooting the puck directly on the goalie logo.

T-Lew just disrespects other teams on the most fundamental level. He's tearing at your brand man.

Lewis is the kind of guy who'll fire a watery, staple-center exclusive misty wrister at Crawford or whoever while being pushed toward the boards while entering the zone after a nothing shift. just rubber skidded right across the Chiefs face. crawford or whoever is just bummed enough about "this plug" fuddling up the threads to lapse and not track a deflected puck off the next draw.

No points for Lewis, but that's a generated offensive zone faceoff with a bit of logo desecration to go with it.

Lewis is a vet. He's taken about 500 shots now as a King. That's a lot of black-eyed yotes or knocked out g's, e's and r's from RANGERS sweaters.
 

Bee Sheriff

Bad Boy Postingâ„¢
Nov 9, 2013
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T-Lew just disrespects other teams on the most fundamental level. He's tearing at your brand man.

Lewis is the kind of guy who'll fire a watery, staple-center exclusive misty wrister at Crawford or whoever while being pushed toward the boards while entering the zone after a nothing shift. just rubber skidded right across the Chiefs face. crawford or whoever is just bummed enough about "this plug" fuddling up the threads to lapse and not track a deflected puck off the next draw.

No points for Lewis, but that's a generated offensive zone faceoff with a bit of logo desecration to go with it.

Lewis is a vet. He's taken about 500 shots now as a King. That's a lot of black-eyed yotes or knocked out g's, e's and r's from RANGERS sweaters.

This is a great post. Lewis is one of the best in the league when it comes to just making good hockey plays that probably won't result in a point.
 

KingsFan7824

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Dec 4, 2003
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Carter has 1 goal, 6 points, and a -8 in 19 road games. Kopitar has 2 goals, 5 points, and a -10 in 16 road games. Whatever +/- is worth, those are the two worst rankings on the road for the Kings this year. Stoll has 2 goals and 8 points on the road. Clifford has 1 goal and 7 points. Lewis has 3 goals and 6 points. McBain has 1 goal. Greene has 1 goal. Brown and Richards both have 4 goals and 9 points. Martinez has 3 goals. King has 2 goals. You can just keep going down the line.

Quick has a .900sv% on the road.

I'm sure the defensive group issues are also part of the equation. In 2013, both Mitchell and Greene were out for basically the whole season. This year, not only is Mitchell gone, but Voynov, and now Regehr has been hurt.

The Kings have 3 combined goals on the road from Kopitar and Carter. At home, they're both averaging more than a point per game now. Combined for 16 goals in 21 games. That's .762 goals per game from the two of them. On the road, it's .178 goals per game. That's a difference of .584 goals per game. Kopitar hasn't not led the team in road scoring since his rookie year. Before this season, Carter had scored 30 goals in 70 road games in the regular season with the Kings. That's an average of 35 over 82 games. This season, with 1 goal in 19 games, he would get 4 over 82 games.
 

Jason Lewis

Registered User
Oct 4, 2011
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Carter has 1 goal, 6 points, and a -8 in 19 road games. Kopitar has 2 goals, 5 points, and a -10 in 16 road games. Whatever +/- is worth, those are the two worst rankings on the road for the Kings this year. Stoll has 2 goals and 8 points on the road. Clifford has 1 goal and 7 points. Lewis has 3 goals and 6 points. McBain has 1 goal. Greene has 1 goal. Brown and Richards both have 4 goals and 9 points. Martinez has 3 goals. King has 2 goals. You can just keep going down the line.

Quick has a .900sv% on the road.

I'm sure the defensive group issues are also part of the equation. In 2013, both Mitchell and Greene were out for basically the whole season. This year, not only is Mitchell gone, but Voynov, and now Regehr has been hurt.

The Kings have 3 combined goals on the road from Kopitar and Carter. At home, they're both averaging more than a point per game now. Combined for 16 goals in 21 games. That's .762 goals per game from the two of them. On the road, it's .178 goals per game. That's a difference of .584 goals per game. Kopitar hasn't not led the team in road scoring since his rookie year. Before this season, Carter had scored 30 goals in 70 road games in the regular season with the Kings. That's an average of 35 over 82 games. This season, with 1 goal in 19 games, he would get 4 over 82 games.

Insane right?

I was going over those numbers last week I could get over how Kopitar and Carter have a 20 point difference in home/road production.
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
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Insane right?

I was going over those numbers last week I could get over how Kopitar and Carter have a 20 point difference in home/road production.

It truly is insane. But while I (of all people, right?) agree that there's a natural regression to be had in both the home AND road records, regression doesn't happen if you're playing horribly. Most of those games were eminently winnable minus a few godawful breakdowns, and if even half of those late losses/SOL/OTLs were points we'd be fighting for the conference lead. How scary is that, with how critical we've been of this team this year?

That's why I think the recent Corsi trends are a positive thing. The breakdowns, focus issues, etc. are fixable. "overall play", getting outplayed every night, isn't. Somehow we were winning despite getting outplayed every night (hint: Quick); now, we're losing despite much of the opposite. The two biggest areas of focus are 1. better starts and 2. avoiding lack-of-focus breakdowns like just not covering a guy :facepalm:. Those have to do with team chemistry/composition, and rolling a bunch of new d-men out there can do that, though it seems most of the issues are actually due to the forwards and/or the fatigue of Doughty (and maybe all players--cup hangover if you subscribe to that). Like I said, I think all of this will get sorted out, which will also support the goaltending, and I find it impossible to believe that our top players home/road splits will be so drastic, which should lead to challenging for the division sooner rather than later (especially with Kopitar playing with a pulse again).
 

bob77

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Nov 19, 2014
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I think teams in general in the NHL get after it a little bit more when they are at home, they send guys in on the forecheck, play a more up tempo game! In general, I think the Kings are having trouble with teams that just send the troops in after their defenseman!! Kings have trouble breaking out! When the Kings are at home, road teams play a more cautious game, which to me plays right into the Kings strength!! The Kings are better than almost all teams at this type of game! Throw in the last line change thing also!! Some teams in today's NHL are forechecking with numbers all the time, no matter where they are playing! Nashville and Calgary are examples! Buffalo is an example of a team that played a road type home game against the Kings, and actually won.
 

damacles1156

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Feb 5, 2010
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There is no mystery going on.

Just call it what it is, terrible team road playing. The Kings suck on the road this season.

Look no further than Kopitar/Carter combined 3G 8A 11P -18 on the road.
 

Ziggy Stardust

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Without looking at the numbers I was going to suggest that their best players have played like garbage away from Staples Center, but those numbers from Kopitar and Carter on the road are... depressing. How could such talented players perform so terribly? I don't get it.
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
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Considering we don't really hit the road again until the very end of the month (we have a quick ride to San Jose on the 21st but that's is) I'm not going to put much stock into what we've done previously at that point. We spend essentially the entire month of January at home. Need to pile up points to be sure, but I don't want people citing 2 month old stats when talking about our road woes on the 29th. Hopefully the team will have put its personnel/chemistry/focus issues behind them at that point and I certainly hope they don't forget those issues but rather learn from them.
 

The Echoing Grove

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Jan 2, 2015
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The Kings actually score more 5-on-5 goals on the road than at home, so while Kopi and Jeff's numbers are really ugly away from Staples, it's the defense that needs to be fixed -- especially the poor starts.

Only Edmonton and Arizona have allowed more 1st period goals than the Kings this year.
 

Captain Mittens*

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The Kings actually score more 5-on-5 goals on the road than at home, so while Kopi and Jeff's numbers are really ugly away from Staples, it's the defense that needs to be fixed -- especially the poor starts.

Only Edmonton and Arizona have allowed more 1st period goals than the Kings this year.

Everyone should be hooked up to a red bull drip about a half hour before the puck drops
 

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