Heading into the 2021-22 NHL season, I was more optimistic than most about the Los Angeles Kings’ playoff chances.
Micah Blake McCurdy’s HockeyViz model had LAK as a bubble playoff team with mediocre play-driving. Dom Luszczyszyn was even less bullish in his pre-season breakdown.
Still, I suspected that the team’s influx of young talent and evolving style of play would help it to a wildcard playoff spot, not unlike how the Toronto Maple Leafs went from last in the NHL in 2015-16 to the post-season in 2016-17.
Now, LAK is second in the Pacific Division, on pace for 96 points and a first playoff berth since 2017-18.
The driving force behind LAK’s revival is its ability to create offense in a multifaceted way.
DZ Breakout: Get off the wall, change side
In the past two years, LAK has gone from feckless to elite off the rush.
Instead of using a dump-out to relieve pressure, defenseman LAK50 Sean Durzi cuts back to beat a Vegas forechecker.
LAK11 Anze Kopitar problem-solves three Golden Knights to find LAK9 Adrian Kempe on the dot lane.
Kempe changes sides to the wide speed of LAK22 Andreas Athanasiou for a scoring chance off the rush.
OZ Forecheck: 2-1-2 Narrow
I did not digram LAK’s OZ forecheck in Hockey Tactics 2022: The Playbook because I needed more time to wrap my head around how it works.
Rather than continuing with the Darryl Sutter-era 1-2-2, LAK now employs a 2-1-2 when it is unable to gain the offensive blue line with control.
Off a dump-in, the first two forwards attack simultaneously, with F2 tight to F1 instead of sprinting the opposite side of the rink. F3 loiters high in the zone and shades toward the strong side.
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