Sucker Punch to the Heart Pt 3

With 28 games in the books, it's time to pull out the spreadsheets and do some math. Or, rather, use a rudimentary understanding of hockey statistics to analyze the Los Angeles Kings' performance so far this season. The Kings are notoriously streaky (thus, the nickname Cardiac Kings), but sometimes corsi and xG (expected goals) can give a pretty clear overall picture of how a team is doing.
In short: Not bad; not good, but not bad, either. No longer Corsi Kings of the past, this team with a lot of inexperienced young players has seen its share of struggles in attempting to close out close games or even generate offense, despite James' assertion that Todd McLellan seems to be tailoring his system to fit guys better. However, as the NHL hits the midpoint of this weird, short season, the underlying statistics paint a very different picture than the eye test. That is, the Kings appear to be trending in the right direction.
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