NHL Weekend Showdown: Will Canada’s Playoff Hopes Spark a Holiday Crisis?
The answer, unsatisfying as it is, seems to be something like this: The Kings aren’t great, but they’re not as bad as a lot of us thought, and in a Pacific Division that refuses to follow expectations, that’s probably enough to keep them hanging around the race all year long.
(There was some post-goal controversy on that one; the details are here.)
All three California teams are confusing, a problem that Eric tried to help me with in last week’s newsletter. (Are you subscribed? You should subscribe.) He had the Kings pegged as a scrappy possession team that was getting good goaltending from Darcy Kuemper, and was banking points by getting to overtime as often as possible. That last part is important, because they’re now up to 10 overtime appearances, going 4-6 in the extra frame. It’s true the hockey gods hate the loser point, but it’s also true that coaches love them, and it’s how you can win 10 of 22 games and still be close to .600 in today’s NHL.
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