Kings have plenty to fix as Utah HC visits for the first time – Daily News

After narrowly edging what might be the NHL’s worst team, the Kings will have to contend with one of its fastest squads when they welcome Utah HC to Crypto.com Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Kings’ opponents, who relocated under new ownership from Arizona where they spent nearly 30 years existing as the Coyotes, will visit the Kings for the first time clad in two-tone blue and white with “Utah” on their chests. They won their first three games before dropping four of their past five.

Yet it was the Kings who started the season looking like a team without a home, as they played their entire exhibition schedule and first seven regular-season games on the road before eking out two points in a 3-2 victory over the winless San Jose Sharks in Thursday’s home opener. They stormed out to a 3-0 lead but then were outplayed by virtually every measure in the second and third periods.

“If we’re playing like that, we’re going to lose many games,” Kings defenseman Jordan Spence said. “We got lucky, but at the same time, we got the win. I wouldn’t be surprised if (Coach Jim Hiller) preaches on what we did in the third period.”

Hiller did indeed head to the pulpit – OK, the lectern – to bemoan his team’s flat play across much of the final 40 minutes (they lacked “the same energy and style of play”), as well as its toothless power play (which hasn’t score on 15 consecutive chances), its penalty issues (they’ve taken the third-most minor penalties in the league) and its tepid top-six production.

“If it’s repeat offenders, and they’re legitimate calls, then people don’t have to go on the ice. That’s the only thing the coaches really have, is ice time,” said Hiller of the Kings’ ongoing penalty party.

He also said that not only did the power play have to be better – it went from presenting some threat during a slump to not being at all “dangerous” against the Sharks, Hiller said – but so too did the Kings’ most prominent forwards.

“We have to get some mojo (on the power play), there, and through our top two lines. They don’t have a ton of mojo right now,” Hiller said.

The Kings’ top-line forwards have gone scoreless in two straight games and have combined for just six points in the past five games. Their current second-liners have produced just five points during that period.

Two breakout performers from last season, Line 1’s Quinton Byfield and Line 2’s Trevor Moore, have had particularly slow starts. Moore’s assist on Spence’s goal Thursday was just his second point of the campaign while Byfield has been almost as cold. Neither player has produced on the power play, where Byfield has been roughly as unremarkable on the half-wall as Pierre-Luc Dubois was last season.

They’ll need more than just their microwave of a third line – Warren Foegele, Alex Laferriere and Alex Turcotte have been the Kings’ most effective trio of late – against Utah.

Though missing former Kings defenseman Sean Durzi (shoulder surgery) and defenseman John Marino (back surgery), Utah could get center Nick Bjugstad back as soon as Saturday. Even with those injuries, they have more depth and scoring punch than in recent years in Arizona.