The Los Angeles Kings are one overtime loss away from putting their names into the NHL record book for most overtime losses in history, and it’s not the kind of milestone that a team wants to celebrate over.
With 14 overtime losses on the season, the most in the NHL, with only the Vegas Golden Knights having the same amount, who sit in first place right now in the Pacific Division, the Kings have turned close games into costly missed opportunities, losing out on critical points in a Western Conference playoff race that has no margin for error.
A Record That Hurts More Than It Helps
This has been a recurring rollercoaster for the Kings this season; it’s been the one issue they haven’t been able to escape. The inability to close out close games and dig themselves out of a win in overtime or regulation when it becomes a one-possession game.
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Los Angeles also has the most overtime games played, with 23, and a below-average record: 9-14, tying for the most goals against (67) in the NHL with the Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild.
But with all this going on, Los Angeles is still very much alive in the West playoff picture. Despite all the struggles and heartbreaking losses they’ve gone through, it’s still a very tight race.
The Pacific Division has been very inconsistent this season, with no team you can look at and say is running away with the conference or a clear contender. Only three teams are either exactly .500 or above .500 in the conference: the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, and Anaheim Ducks. Not even the number one seed, the Golden Knights, are above .500, with a record of 25-16-14.
Three-on-Three Is Exposing the Kings’ Weaknesses
Three-on-three is designed to reward speed, skill, shot-making, and execution. While the Kings have had solid shot-making and speed, they have struggled this season to score in the 3-on-3 format.
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Whether it’s the lazy defense that gets tired in overtime or turnovers that the Kings give up a lot late in games, LA, for most of this season, always loses the same way in every game.
A Warning Sign
There’s also a psychological factor to this repeated outcome for the Kings. With Los Angeles constantly losing the same way, especially in overtime games, that chips away at their confidence, especially when the same mistakes keep surfacing.
A team that expects to compete in the Western Conference shouldn’t be learning how to close games in February; it should already have it figured out, as we are well into the second half of the season and almost into the postseason.
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Now, none of this means the Kings are a bad team; in fact, it means the opposite: Los Angeles can compete with anyone on any given night and is competitive almost every night against the best teams in the league.
But being competitive without execution or clutch is how good teams become average or mediocre, and how playoff teams become first-round exits.
Overtime Change
Now, fans have argued that much of this inconsistency, not only in the Pacific Division but also in other divisions, has been due to overtime games. Fans have even argued that, from a competitive standpoint, ties would be preferable to the constant drift into 3-on-3 overtime matches, especially for several teams that haven’t shown any ability to win in that format.
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The NHL used to have ties; the last season was 2004-05, before the controversial change in 2005-06 eliminated them and adopted 3-on-3 overtime and a shootout. But there have been no discussions in the NHL about changing the overtime rules again or going back to ties, as other professional leagues do in the NFL.
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