LOS ANGELES –– Saturday’s next step in a season that’s been all claws and teeth for the Kings is to tangle with an opponent that has been defanged year over year.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Mitch Marner over the summer and then Auston Matthews for the season as they concluded an eight-game freefall last month. They also just fired general manager Brad Treliving.
If their campaign had ended Thursday, when they gave the Kings no help with a 4-1 loss to the ascendant San Jose Sharks, they’d have gone from first to worst in the ruthlessly rivalrous Atlantic Division.
After amassing 105 points, the sixth-best point total in the NHL last year that tied a single-season franchise record, the Kings are seeking to avert a similar fall from grace. If Thursday’s overtime loss to Nashville, which is in a points tie with San Jose and the Kings, were the season finale, the Kings would have been on the outside of the playoffs looking in like Toronto.
“It’s a playoffs type of mentality from here on out, if we want to get to the playoffs,” captain Anže Kopitar said. “It’s a lot of intensity, a lot of desperation and we’ve just got to do it right from the drop of the puck and right until the very end.”
Yet the Kings have had dreadful starts in each of the three dates on this seven-game homestand. Against the Utah Mammoth, they trailed 3-1 through 20 minutes and 5-1 through 40. They wobbled early facing the St. Louis Blues but Anton Forsberg, who is looking like their best option in net for this final seven-game stretch, gave them an opportunity to pull out a seldom-seen home win in overtime. Versus Nashville, they fell behind by three goals, twice, before springing to life and getting some bounces.
Given the wax-and-wane nature of their competitive fire, Kopitar was asked if he’d entertained the notion that these could be his final seven games. In the preseason, he announced that he was retiring at the end of this, his 20th NHL season.
“I don’t plan on just playing seven more games,” he said flatly.
While Kopitar’s final game – whether in Game 82 of the regular season or the last installment of the Stanley Cup Final – was an eventuality, Toronto’s captain had a less certain status.
Matthews has been the subject of trade rumors, with the Kings being linked as a potential suitor.
In 10 games since his knee injury, the Leafs have gone 4-4-2. Former captain John Tavares has led them in goals, points and game-winning goals, with pace car William Nylander also hitting double digits in that span.
Toronto at Kings
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cryto.com Arena
TV: FDSN SoCal