Out of gas. Hit a wall. Wasted. Pooped. Spent. Beat. Bushed. Drained. Dead. However you want to phrase it, the Los Angeles Kings have simply run out of energy. Following one of the league's toughest schedules in March, by all accounts and purposes, the over-performing Kings have crashed back down to the Earth in the most ungraceful manner with a stinky 0-3 road trip, in which their recent matchup against Minnesota saw them not only blow a 3-0 lead in a very short amount of time, but also surrender six goals against.

Nothing about the team has been consistent over the past 74 games--aside from the consistent rash of injuries. On nights that their goaltending is superb, their offense fails to show up. When they could use some help from their goalie, both Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen have turned in average-at-best replacement level performances. This is not to pin the team's woes on them. While they aren't performing at a Vezina quality, the skaters in front of them aren't exactly all playing at Norris/Hart/Selke levels, either.

Much of that is due to the aforementioned injuries, which has seen players forced to elevate their games beyond their readiness or roles (i.e. Olli Määttä being thrust into a first pairing role or asking 21-year-old rookie in all senses Jordan Spence to be a reliable third pairing NHL defenseman). Alex Edler missed three months and has been slow in his return to the lineup. The losses of Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty (who is now out for the rest of the season following a wrist surgery) are also weighing heavily on the blue line where Matt Roy and Määttä are forced to shoulder the load along with the rusty Edler and Troy Stecher. The former Red Wing has been a big boon to the weary Reign players, but as expected, has not been the team's saving grace--though that was never the intention in trading for him.

What looked like a sure bet two weeks ago to make the playoffs is now looking like dicey odds. The Vegas Golden Knights, with a game in hand, have managed to win their way back into a bubble spot whilst the Kings have slipped into the third spot behind the red hot Edmonton Oilers with blow points against the San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken looming large.

In this short podcast episode, Sarah and Robyn discuss the team's potential to make the postseason (despite head coach Todd McLellan's insistence that this is the team's "playoffs") and how disappointing it could be if the team manages to miss out on playing more games in May.

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