A February to Remember

Ahh, yes. It’s been a good month. But it wasn’t long ago when the end was near. Towards the close of January, when the Kings skid was at its worst, the panic was palpable. When I dug into the LAKI archives, I found the following, um, let’s say interesting comments…

• Sorry, but no playoffs this year.
• THIS TEAM DISGUSTS ME!!!!!!
• I challenge ANYBODY here to tell me the Kings will go anywhere with this team!
• DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW NEGATIVE I AM…WE ARE DONE, WE ARE TOAST,
• They CAN’T POSSIBLY make the playoffs.
• Terry Murray is the worst coach ever.
• The playoffs are gone. Time sadly to sell.
• GROW SOME BALLS DEAN LOMBARDI!

Angry young fan.

Not long after these comments were made, Lombardi lashed out at the NHL over that high-stick goal, which ended up costing him 50 grand. No small balls there. In addition, it just so happens that the team, since that incident, has gone on a tear.

In February they played 13 games and won 8 of them. But they only lost 2 in regulation. The other 3 they got the OT point. That’s 19 points out of a possible 26. Not bad at all considering 10 games were on the road. [update: thank you for the correction!]

Where does that leave the Kings chances of making the playoffs you ask? A helluva lot better than at the end of January. There are now 19 games left and the “Magic Loss Number” is down to 8 after last night’s little oopsy against Detroit.

To get to the playoffs and the “Safe Number” of 95 points, the Kings will need the equivalent of a 10-8-1 record. The gap between wins and losses was 4 just last week. Now it’s 2. I’d like it to get to 0 as soon as possible so that we can say, “all they Kings have to do is win half of their games to make it in.”

Of course, the “Safe Number” is in quotes for a reason and that’s because there was one time when a team, Colorado, didn’t make it into the playoffs with 95 points. It’s only happened once, I believe. It may happen again, especially this year, with so many teams bunched up.

Happy fan.

So as it turned out, February was the month the Kings turned it around and saved the season…so far. The next step is to hit March running by welcoming the newest King, Dustin Penner, to the team. The Kings have gone all season long without a 1st line left wing. And now, after their great month of February they are getting rewarded with a solid player that can fill that role.

With the addition of Penner, there seems little doubt the Kings will make into the post season, and possibly beyond the 1st round. Until then, I’ll still keep my eye on that “Magic Loss Number.”