Kings Starting To Rule Again in the Western Conference

Good morning and happy Tuesday, March 21st.

We were a bit surprised to see such overwhelming results in yesterday's poll with 80% of participants saying there absolutely should be checking in women's college hockey. Granted, there is no lack of physicality in women's college, pro, or international games so might as well take the ambiguity out of it, right?!

Since the Los Angeles Kings won their last Stanley Cup in 2013-14, their playoff participation has been spotty at best. They’ve sat out the postseason five times in eight years. Since raising that Cup, they haven’t been able to qualify in two consecutive seasons.

That’s all changing this season.

The Kings thumped the Calgary Flames 8-2 Monday to move into a first place tie with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division. With a 15-point lead with 11 games to go, Los Angeles has all but clinched a Western Conference playoff spot for a second consecutive season.

In fact, with three-plus weeks left in the regular-season, few NHL teams are performing as well as the Kings. They own a 10-game point streak (8-0-2) that is only one shy of the team record. Los Angeles has earned points in 11 consecutive games three times: Feb. 28-March 24, 1974; Jan. 22-Feb. 17, 2011; and Nov. 7-27, 2013.

The recent run of success, coming at the time it’s needed most, suggests general manager Rob Blake is restoring the team’s winning culture.

Since the All-Star break, the Kings are 9-0-2 at home. Not even the No. 1 Boston Bruins boast the level of success the Kings have known for the past three weeks.

This was the second time this season the Kings have scored eight goals in a game. They also did it against the Seattle Kraken.

Viktor Arvidsson scored his 20th goal in the win against the Flames. The Kings now have five players with 20 or more goals for the first time since the 2010-11 season. They could end up with six as Phillip Danault is at 18.

The only negative of the Kings’ triumph over Calgary was that Gabriel Vilardi suffered an injury when he crashed into the boards. He did not return to the game. The Kings had no update.

🥇 Aleksander Barkov sets Panthers' all-time point record, Florida leapfrogs Pittsburgh for final wild card. Barkov recorded a 2nd-period assist on Gustav Forsling's blast from the point, giving him 614 points, breaking a tie with Jonathan Huberdeau for the team record. Panthers' goal leader on the year, Carter Verhaeghe scored twice, Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and two assists (giving him 14 points over the last five games), and Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves as the Panthers topped the Red Wings 5-2. The Panthers are 6-0-1 over their last seven games and hold a 1 point lead over the Penguins for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot.

🧱 Dylan Ferguson makes 48 saves in Senators' debut, Ottawa downs Pittsburgh 2-1. The 24-year-old netminder saw his first NHL action since allowing one goal on two shots in relief Nov. 14, 2017 as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, but showed no signs of nerves as the Senators were badly outshot 49-21 last night. Defenseman Thomas Chabot scored his 10th of the season in the latter half of the 1st and Drake Batherson scored on the power play off a Brady Tkachuk feed with just 2:09 left in the 3rd to break the 1-1 tie to hand Pittsburgh their 4th straight loss. Ottawa is 6 points back from the final Eastern Conference wild card with 12 games left on their schedule.

The Pittsburgh Penguins currently hold the longest active playoff streak in the NHL, qualifying for the postseason in the last 16 seasons. What two franchises are tied for 2nd with eight consecutive playoff berths?

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The Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals are tied for the 2nd longest active consecutive playoff berths with 8