Los Angeles Kings continue pushing towards the playoffs

The Los Angeles Kings have some work to do in order to reach the post-season.

There are 30 games left in the NHL season; that leaves 30 games for the Los Angeles Kings to decide how they want to finish the season.

Do they want to be the Kings from October that went unbeaten in regulation for 11 straight games? Or are they going to be the Kings from January that lost seven of eight games and dropped from second to fifth place in the Pacific Division?

As of this writing, the Kings again sit in fifth place of the Pacific Division as only three points separates four teams vying for two playoff spots. What about first place, you ask? the Vegas Golden Knights have that wrapped up.

If the Kings are going to get to the playoffs the road goes through the Pacific Division, 10 of the next 30 games will be against their division rivals. This is a great opportunity for the Kings to make moves in the standings as they try to get points for the playoff push.

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The problem with playing so many games in their own division is that unfortunately the Kings have struggled against the Pacific the last two years. When they missed the playoffs last year, the Kings went 12-14-3 while going 27-20-5 against the rest of the league.

Struggling against their division rivals cost them a playoff spot.

The Kings didn’t learn their lesson this year as again their struggles have come against Pacific. They are currently 7-9-3 within their division while going 21-10-2 against the rest of the NHL.

If the Kings plan on making the playoffs they can’t afford to lose points within their division and will have to play desperate hockey.

While the Kings continue to play middling hockey on offense, they currently rank 21st out of the 31 NHL teams in goals scored. With the trade deadline looming there doesn’t seem to be a trade on the horizon that can fix this.

The Kings are hoping that long time center Jeff Carter will return from a nasty skate injury that has kept him out since mid-October. If Carter comes back healthy, the Kings will once again have a formidable 1-2 punch at the center position in the top-six forward positions.

Carter can also help the Kings punchless power play that is ranked 20th in the NHL. One part of Carter’s game that remains underrated is his defensive skill. While the Kings rank second in goals against and first in penalty kills, Carter’s re-emergence will only help the Kings clamp down more on their opponents.

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

If the Kings are going to make the playoffs one player whose usage time may need to be re-evaluated is goalie Jonathan Quick. Since the new year, Quick has had a miserable time, going 2-7-0 and giving up an average of four goals during that run.

It seems that Quick has struggled with a lower body injury that kept him out of the all-star game, this has forced the Kings to rely more on backup Darcy Kuemper lately. The reality is that Quick has come free falling back to Earth since a strong start.

Quick started the season with two shutouts in his first eight games and looked his best since he was helping his team win two Stanley Cups in three years. Since then over his next 32 games Quick has only one shutout and has had two losing streaks of five or more games.

Meanwhile, in limited play, Kuemper has only lost once in regulation and has a better ave percentage and goals against average than Quick. Many Kings fans won’t want to hear it but until Quick is completely healthy or Kuemper falters, it may be time to reduce Quick’s role going forward.

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If the Kings want to get back to playoffs they better find a way to beat their division rivals, hope Jeff Carter comes back healthy, and Jonathan Quick might have to take a back seat until he can play better. They have 30 games to do it or it could be another disappointing year.

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