Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kopitar on L.A.'s scoring woes: “I’d be lying if I said there was no frustration”

Los Angeles Kings v Phoenix Coyotes

GLENDALE, AZ - SEPTEMBER 21: Anze Kopitar #11 of the Los Angeles Kings during the preseason NHL game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena on September 21, 2011 in Glendale, Arizona. The Kings defeated the Coyotes 3-2. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Los Angeles Kings are the NHL’s lowest scoring team. They rank dead last in goals per game (2.26) and 5-on-5 goals (36) and only have three players -- Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Anze Kopitar -- with seven goals or more.

Those ghastly numbers were enough for Kopitar to express frustration to Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider.

“I’d be lying if I said there was no frustration in the room. Everybody would like to score more goals,” Kopitar said. “Sometimes, for the guys, it’s almost better if you lose 5-4 than 2-1 or 1-0, because you have the sense that you did something out on the ice, that you did score a goal.”

Why L.A.'s scoring has fallen off a cliff is mysterious. Outside of a brutal, injury-ravaged season from Dustin Penner, the Kings have had all their offensive stars available. And it’s not like all the scorers are struggling -- Kopitar is scoring at a point-a-game clip and prior to getting hurt, Richards was on pace for a career-high in goals.

That said, there are some theories as to why LA isn’t scoring:

-- To acquire top-end talent like Richards and Gagne, the Kings were forced to jettison some of their depth. Last year’s key bottom-six guys (Wayne Simmonds, Michal Handzus, Alexei Ponikarovsky) are all playing elsewhere and their replacements (Ethan Moreau, Trent Hunter, Colin Fraser) have done zilch.

-- Compounding the depth problem are guys that LA let walk or traded for nothing, like Matt Moulson (let walk as a FA), Teddy Purcell (traded for Jeff Halpern) and Brian Boyle (traded for a third-round pick) -- all thriving with their new respective teams.

-- GM Dean Lombardi told Hammond “we set out to put a strong defensive structure in place,” and “there’s no doubt in my mind that it starts back there and it’s critical for the playoffs.” This could be a case of a team sacrificing offense for defense, like what we’ve seen with Washington recently.