Jets at Kings: Those 70s Baes

A loss put a damper on opening night, but the Kings didn’t spoil the next celebration in Staples Center — Bob Miller’s 76th birthday!

After a 3-2 OT loss in Arizona despite leading at first, the Kings put together an even more commanding lead against the Winnipeg Jets and held onto it throughout the night.

70s Line, 70 Chances

Every Kings line had at least a couple really solid shifts and shots, but the Pearson-Carter-Toffoli line Kings fandom has come to adore stood out the most once again. They each scored a goal and earned an assist, combining for six points and making up the game’s three stars. Toffoli and Carter had a couple of excellent scoring chances outside of their goals scored, and Pearson had a great shift where he recovered the puck twice in two different board battles in the offensive zone all by himself.

Though Pearson’s goal was a little flukey in the way it bounced off the goaltender and in, the play to make it happen was a nice example of how this line can even create something out of messiness when they’re wheeling.

 
What I love most about this is that Toffoli got drilled moments earlier and came back to execute his own in check in a way that felt a little like revenge but also created an opportunity.

 
Don’t Discount Doughty

The second line did most of the goal-scoring, but Drew Doughty had the most individual shots on goal (4) and was a key contributor to even the first goal of the night:

 
First, credit to Nolan for maintaining control long enough to hand off to the guys coming on after a change. Doughty makes the pass to Carter for the first shot attempt, and then has a great second effort that miraculously glances out of the crease. Luckily Toffoli’s there to gather the puck and pop it in finally.

Doughty managed an outstanding 70 percent Corsi For at even strength with mostly d-zone starts (ZS percentage: 33%). The only player better was consistent possession monster Justin Williams, whose even strength Corsi was also 70 percent with zone starts at 25 percent.

 
Remedial Special Teams

The Kings managed to kill both penalties where they were shorthanded, but the power play has been disheartening so far. They managed a couple chances on one of them, but overall the PP was so uninspiring that fans didn’t even get excited for their third opportunity.

They allowed two shorthanded chances that were sort of exciting in the worst way. Special teams is one area of the Kings game that definitely still needs more time in the oven.

 
Martin Jones Has Your Back

D-zone coverage is also still coming together for the Kings. Doughty’s individual numbers look great, and a lot of breakouts looked much better and more like the precise execution fans are used to seeing, but it took some time for the Kings to really get there. The two penalty kills one right after the other contributed to throwing off the Kings’ rhythm a little in the middle of the game, too.

The bright side is that every time the Kings let through a quality chance, goaltender Martin Jones was there to make the stop.

 
This is why you #StartJones.

Okay, okay, so Jones started because Quick had played the day before, but he looked really strong. He kept the Kings in control even when the Jets pulled ahead in shots on goal.

 
Actually slaughtering a team they absolutely should have — especially a Jets team with no Evander Kane in the lineup — was gratifying and brought the team their first win on the season. It also allowed the Kings to jump from last in the Pacific Division to third within 24 hours.