Kings’ Winning Streak Is a New York State of Mind

Six wins in a row is quite the accomplishment for a franchise that was assumed to be a middling team this year. While certainly not marked for death— aka the NHL’s mushy middle— they’ve defied early onset expectations.

The LA top six, let alone top nine, doesn’t scream, “Come stop us, I dare you”. But they’ve quietly had an excellent season from last year’s team scoring leader in Adrian Kempe, and a sustained onslaught by ageless wonder Anze Kopitar.

Kevin Fiala shows flashes of greatness and Trevor Moore is showing promise on the top line. Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield have formed a formidable new duo down the lineup, even with the latter exhibiting uneasiness in his transition to center.

Alex Laferriere was supposed to be the very manifestation of this team going into this season—steady but ultimately average. He’s exceeded the highest of expectations thus far and might potentially be a 25—perhaps even 30 goal scoring threat this season.

Speaking of the youth, Alex Turcotte has emerged from years of on and off injuries to become a contributor anywhere and everywhere in the lineup.

And how about the Kings’ defense?

Without their number one defenseman, Drew Doughty, they have performed better than you could have hoped for. Mikey Anderson and Vladislav Gavrikov have solidified the top pairing that puts the onus on shutting down the top lines in hockey, while chipping in offensively.

The Brandt Clarke hype train is in full motion. So far, he's handled the Sean Durzi experience with aplomb. Clarke has looked unfazed by the task of taking over the first powerplay unit. He logs decent minutes for his age and has chipped in (3g-13a) 16 points.

The goaltending, which has been annotated as being dicey, has been good enough to establish the Kings as a Pacific Division front runner. Darcy Kuemper has only allowed two goals since returning from his second injury, which is starting to make this writer return his skepticism.

All of this goodwill will be put to the test on the Kings’ current road trip. At the start of the season, they endured their first seven game excursion. Coming into this road trip they carried a five game winning streak, which got pushed to six with a win over an average team in the New York Islanders.

Tomorrow they will play a very good team in Newark; a team that boasts some of the best talent in the league, but a team and building the Kings have had success with in the past (6-3-1 in their last ten visits). New Jersey is part of the Tri-State area, and has performed with a New York-like ‘Empire State of Mind’, going 18-10-4 this season. Regardless of who you play on a winning streak, the streak will get tested. The Kings will be tested tomorrow against a stiffer opponent than the one they saw on their visit to Belmont Park.

The matchup against the Devils might not answer the question of whether or not the Kings are a legit threat, especially so early in the season, but the premise is exciting. A win against a good club in Jersey, then against a crumbling team in the Rangers would put their win streak at eight. Would they finally be a truly good team then?

The Kings are on the cusp of doing something that would shake the foundation of the premise that they would be no better than an average team. This LA club is feeling really good right now, and we could be witnessing them finally separate themselves from the mushy middle discussion.