Whatever views one has of the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings are more likely representative of the eye of the beholder than of the team itself.
Two contradicting statistics leave an unclear picture of the team going forward. Under Darryl Sutter, Los Angeles has points in 15 of 17 games, yet wins in only nine of those 17, without back-to-back victories since the first two games after Christmas.
It's part of a season-long Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that has continued under Sutter. They Kings have beaten Vancouver both home and away in the last month, won at Chicago and knocked off a red-hot Ottawa squad, yet they were shut out at home by basement-dwelling Columbus and also lost recently to Edmonton and Calgary, though the latter afforded them several familiar "loser points."
You can either look at the stifling defense and the Vezina-quality backbone that goalie Jonathan Quick has provided, or you can dwell on the league-low 2.14 goals per game. Should focus be on a tepid 14-11-4 home record, or the fact that they've earned points in 16 of 21 road games?
The imbalance is so stark, as soon as the team's airtight penalty killing began to take a hit — it has allowed goals in seven straight games after killing off 42 straight — the power play inevitably improved, recording seven goals in the eight games leading up to the All-Star Break.
There's inconsistency, and then there's the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings.
"I like our game, once we get to it," defenseman Rod Scuderi said after Monday's win over Ottawa. "Recently, we're playing 45 minutes, 55, minutes, and in this league even taking a little bit of time off, the other team's going to take advantage and tie or win. We've lost a lot of points here, especially at home. So I'd like to see more consistency generally and maybe a little better record at home."
We're more believing in this team's upside and potential to challenge for the division.
Despite a Nov. 22-to-Dec. 26 stretch in which they failed to score more than two goals — an offensive malaise that cost coach Terry Murray his job in mid-December — the team is slowly beginning to find its footing offensively again, scoring at least four goals in five of its last 12 games.
Defense and goaltending will continue to be the bread and butter for this character-led, physical squad, but if the team can muster even a modest improvement in scoring, it should receive enough of a boost over its final 30 games to move closer to the conference's elite rather than toward the teams in playoff exile.
Offensively, Los Angeles' difficulty in finding consistent production on the left side has continued. Simon Gagne, a player with an unfortunate concussion history, became concussed in December, and it is unclear when his next appearance in a Kings jersey will be.
While Dustin Penner has improved as the season has progressed and shown a raised level over last season's Staples Center stint, the production just isn't there — three goals at the All-Star Break is nowhere near the realm of production expected when Dean Lombardi traded for him near last year's trading deadline.
Justin Williams has been streaky and occasionally prone to offensive zone turnovers but at times a dynamic playmaker and heads into the All-Star Break nursing an eight-game point streak. Along with Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, Jarrett Stoll (who has seen a slide in his production) and bangers Kyle Clifford and Colin Fraser, the Kings' forwards have chiseled out a well-defined defensive-minded personality. The team has 1,371 hits, a total that remains neck-and-neck with the New York Rangers for the most in the NHL.
"Defensively, it's a full five-man unit on the ice, including Quickie, with him. Everybody's got to come back," Stoll said earlier this month.
"If we're giving up Grade A scoring chances every couple of shifts, obviously we don't want to play that run-and-gun type of game like some teams play. We want to play a tight checking, grinding game that takes advantage of their mistakes and their turnovers and go the other way."
Drew Doughty's explosiveness on defense is yet to materialize after his extended contract holdout. He's on pace for just six goals, which would mark the lowest output since his 19-year old rookie season. He has quietly added 13 assists over his last 20 games and provides physicality in his defensive efforts, though the production that materialized through his thrilling 20-year old sophomore season remains to be replicated.
Rookie Slava Voynov, 21, has emerged as the most positive development on the Kings' blueline this season. Joining the team permanently in November, he's shown an accurate and hard shot from distance and possesses a two-way skill set somewhat comparable to that of Kimmo Timonen. Jack Johnson remains in the red in plus/minus, an asterisk that continues to taint his offensive disposition, while Willie Mitchell, Rob Scuderi and Matt Greene remain the heart and soul of a physical, shot-blocking character unit.
The greatest strength of this Kings team is obviously in net, where Quick leads the league with six shutouts and ranks fourth in goals against average (1.93) and save percentage (.934) and has had the greatest statistical first half in franchise history.
Los Angeles is not a playoff team without Quick, who started the final seven games heading into the All-Star break. Jonathan Bernier has patiently produced quality minutes when called upon, though he hasn't started more than three games in any month. The Kings' goaltending tandem is one of the league's top-five rotations, right up there with Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask in Boston, Brian Elliot and Jaroslav Halak in St. Louis, Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Biron in New York, and Jimmy Howard and Ty Conklin in Detroit.
"I think he's really similar to a lot of top goalies I've been fortunate to coach, in terms of his practice habits and his respect in the locker room in terms of leadership," Sutter said of his early impressions of Quick.
At first glance, the schedule may be somewhat of a hindrance to the Kings — they only play six home games between now and March 16, including a hellacious Long Island / Dallas back-to-back jaunt at the tail end of an upcoming six-game road trip.
While they've been among the more productive road teams this season, they're still tied for the fewest road games played in the league and will squeeze 20 games away from Staples Center in the season's final 10 weeks, a significant challenge for a travel-weary Western Conference team.
There are reasons to believe the Kings can wrest control of the division from the Sharks, though they are unlikely. It speaks more of San Jose's inability to find its own consistency than anything Los Angeles has been able to accomplish to this point. Gorging themselves on loser points, the Kings have put themselves in position to be in contention for the Pacific Division crown — and on the whole, there's not much more that can be asked for at this point of the season.
"There's definitely room for improvement, so we've got to focus on that and trying to get better every time we go out on the ice," Quick said. "Whether it's a game or practice, just trying to get better, building up for this last half of the year, which is going to be huge."
