Kings' Sutter: Competing in Pacific proving to be as hard as expected
Darryl Sutter knew nothing was going to come easy in the new-look Pacific Division.
Following Monday's 2-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Sutter's Los Angeles Kings remained 11 points behind the Calgary Flames, who sit fourth in the Pacific and hold the first wild-card playoff spot. Sutter envisioned improvement from the Alberta teams coming into the season, and a rough road for his team by extension.
"Our division was instantly better when Calgary made their goaltending changes and the evolution of this team here (Edmonton), and the size they’ve added and the mix they have," Sutter said after Monday's loss to the Oilers, per LA Kings Insider.
Sutter added, "San Jose’s the defending conference champion. I knew it was going to be tough for us, and it certainly proved that."
Toss in the Anaheim Ducks and the Pacific isn't quite the playground it once was for the Kings.
It also doesn't help that Los Angeles isn't stepping up when it matters most.
The Kings have scored seven goals in their past five games and went 1-3-1 with their season on the line.
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 21, 2017
It's not, however, due to a lack of trying.
Those seven Kings goals in five games have come on 177 shots on goal, an average of 35.4 per game and a shooting percentage of 3.95 percent. https://t.co/SoPZRr4Cod
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 21, 2017
Scoring has been an issue all season long for the Kings, who rank 25th in goals per game with 2.4. In fact, only the lowly Colorado Avalanche (12) have been shut out more times than the Kings (9).
The second spot, by the way, is held by the St. Louis Blues, who have six more points and a game in hand on the Kings. With only ten games left on the schedule, it looks like the Kings may be on the outside looking in come playoff time.