The NHL season had three weeks on Friday, just a few hours after Kiss Played on the ice at home for the first time.
“It's really strange”, the captain Anze Kopitar said Thursday before Kiss Played on crypto.com Arena for the first time in 175 days to beat the San José Sharks 3-2 Before a closed window crowds of 18,146. “At the end of October. So a little different.”
The Kings were forced to leave their building for the first seven games of the season by the third phase of a renovation of several million dollars in Crypto.com Arena, who was 25 years old this month. If you have a pre-season past in part in Utah and Quebec, the trip lasted more than a month, making Kings the last team of the League to play at home.
Six others have already played five games on their ice cream at home. And there is no doubt that has disadvantaged the kings. Not only were the players far from their family, but also the home team puts its sticks last on confrontations, improving its chances of winning the decline and obtained the last change on substitutions after a whistle, allowing them to exploit the advantages of the match.
“It's huge,” said Kings TV analyst Jim Fox, who played nine seasons in the NHL.
It is not the only advantage of going home.
“Fans”, ” Kings President Luc Robitaille Said: “Take the advantage of ice at home.”
“You can decide it in different ways,” Second -year coach Jim Hiller Added. “There is familiarity with your routine.
“Everyone is in a good mood.”
Probably because they played so well on the road, taking eight of the 14 possible points in seven games. But long trips on the way are not new to the Kings, who had to leave their arena 20 times in the past 24 seasons to make way for the Grammy Awards. These several weeks trips usually come in the middle of winter; Starting the season on the road, said Hiller is much better.
“Once you deepen, it is essentially as if you had a battery. Your battery is starting to decrease, so these trips at the end you really zap,” he said. “At the beginning, everyone is fresh, hungry, excited.”
“Because it's a bit unprecedented, we have to be careful,” he added. “There is an overview that continues.”
For a team welcoming more than half a dozen new players, a long journey on the road can also be a liaison exercise, especially at the start of the season.
“You get new guys, you want to spend as much time as possible,” said Kopitar. “From this point of view, the trip was really good.”
The San Jose Sharks center, Luke Kunin, fights with the Kings Andre Lee left wing during the first period Thursday.
(William Liang / Associated Press)
One of these new players, Warren generatedWho left Edmonton to sign with the Kings (4-2-2) in July, presented himself to the new fans by scoring twice in the first 12 minutes Thursday in a sloppy match in which the Kings went eight times to the penalty surface and granted two goals in power to San José (0-6-2).
“The first time being in this locker room,” said Foegele, who said he needed help to find the locker room. “This is probably the skating rink in which I played in the most second. It was nice to be on the side.”
After having seen the last three seasons end with losses in the playoffs in the first round against the Foegele Oilers, Robitaille said that it was obvious that the team had to do something different – in addition to changing the calendar – if he wanted different results. Thus, in addition to adding Foegele, the Kings exchanged underperforming Pierre-Luc Dubois And the $ 59.5 million left his contract to the Washington Capitals for goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper, signed defender Joel Edmundson to a three -year contract and exchanged for the winger Tanner Jeannot and defender Kyle Burroughs. The team also abandoned its 1-3-1 neutral zone trap in favor of an offensive 1-2-2, said training that Kopitar made the team's dynamics.
More productive too, the Kings have an average of more than 31 shots per game, the fourth best of the Western Conference at 16 teams.
“We have changed our list,” said Robitaille, whose team will also have to find a way to overcome the loss of the stellar defender Drew Doughty, who will miss at least half of the season after having undergone surgery to repair a fracture of the ankle. “The greatest thing this year was to change the identity a little. More than a third of our team has changed. He will therefore take time for our guys to play exactly as we want.”
Kings goalkeeper David Rittich stopped during the first period against San Jose Sharks.
(William Liang / Associated Press)
Starting the season with seven consecutive road games will help to forge this identity. But Robitaille sees an even greater advantage: the Kings have already played 17% of their road schedule.
“You have to play 41 games on the road, whether you play them the first week or the last week,” he said. “We could complain about it and other teams complain about it, but each team has schedules. This is one of them.
“You continue and get the best game and get out of it. If you are in advance, you are better for that.”
