The Kings returned home after a licking in the Lone Star State, ready to start a three-game residency with back-to-back matches in which they’ll host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday and the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
They could get a shot in the arm from the return of injured winger Viktor Arvidsson (lower-body), who has dressed in only four games this season, all of which have been victories for the Kings. Multiple reports from practice indicated that Arvidsson had shed his non-contact jersey and joined the fourth line for rushes, with Jim Hiller telling reporters that Arvidsson was “close.”
Sans Arvidsson, they fell 4-1 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday, who completed a clean sweep of the season series against the Kings and outscored them 13-3 in the process.
While center Phillip Danault acknowledged that the Kings hadn’t “played [well] against that team at all,” that struggle was only the most salient in a series of uphill climbs against the seven presently postseason-bound teams in the West. They won’t face any of those clubs during this homestand, which will conclude with their final game against an Eastern Conference opponent this season when they confront the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
The Kings already lost their season series not only to Dallas but also to the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Nashville Predators. Those three franchises took two of three meetings from the Kings. They’ve also dropped two of three showdowns with the Edmonton Oilers, with one more clash to come. Their season series with the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks, which they’ve split so far, have one game and two games remaining, respectively.
Against those seven clubs currently in playoff position, the Kings have gone 6-10-3 overall, representing a .395 points percentage and a .316 win percentage. Dallas improved to 10-6-4 against the same septet of teams, a .600 points percentage. More broadly speaking, since the Kings last won a playoff…
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