When the Los Angeles Kings visit the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, they might look like a different team from the one that played Winnipeg last month.
The Kings hosted the Jets on Oct. 28 and lost their sixth straight game, 3-2.
Since then, Los Angeles has won seven consecutive games.
The latest triumph came Thursday night, when the Kings took advantage of the short-handed Ottawa Senators to post a 2-0 win.
“Not pretty again, but (it’s) a win and that seems to be a theme going on with our team,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re checking our way to wins right now and we’ll take it.”
The Jets are a different team from the one the Kings faced last month, too.
Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, who have been among the top four point producers for Winnipeg each of the past seven seasons, didn’t play in the first meeting against the Kings because they were in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Kyle Connor helped pick up the slack in Scheifele and Wheeler’s absence, and he’s continued to produce since their return.
Connor scored his 10th goal of the season in a 4-1 win against the visiting San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, which moved him into sole possession of fourth place in the NHL in scoring with 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) entering Friday’s games.
Connor said he continues to benefit from solid chemistry with linemate Pierre Luc-Dubois.
“We’re reading each other really well and just taking a little more ownership all over the ice and wanting the puck,” Connor said. “As a line, we’re just making simple plays in our D-zone. First man back, we’re surrounding the puck and making it easy at that end of the ice.”
In the first meeting against the Kings this season, Dubois scored two goals; Connor had three assists.
“I’m moving my feet way more,” Connor said. “I think that’s where we create a lot of chances with our speed coming through that neutral zone.”
The Kings have a few hot players as well.
Anze Kopitar scored his eighth goal of the season in the win against Ottawa on Thursday.
Adrian Kempe assisted on Kopitar’s power-play goal to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, three assists), the longest of his NHL career.
Alex Iafallo didn’t produce any points against the Senators, but he came in riding a seven-game point streak (five goals, five assists).
And then there’s the defense, led by goalies Cal Petersen and Jonathan Quick, allowing two goals or fewer in each of the past seven wins.
The Kings have managed to limit the opposition’s Grade-A scoring chances, despite playing without defensemen Drew Doughty and Sean Walker, who went down with knee injuries in back-to-back games before the winning streak.
“When we lost Drew and ‘Walks’ in particular, within three periods of play, I think it affected our group, like ‘What are we going to do now?'” McLellan said.
“It took us a little while to get through it, and then we realized we have players that can play and we needed to play a certain way to have some success. We’ve been able to repeat that night after night.”
— Field Level Media
