Jonathan Quick's early-season long-term injury hasn't been as detrimental to the Los Angeles Kings as first feared.
Instead, it's at the other end of the ice where the club is lacking, head coach Darryl Sutter opined following a 2-1 loss to the lowly Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
"I just think that we don't have a lot of scoring in our lineup, especially with Tyler (Toffoli) out, and if you get down one, you're fine, but if you get down two, you're playing a different game then," he said, according to Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider.
He isn't wrong. After Jeff Carter's team-leading 19 goals, the scoring totals are down across the board, especially, as Sutter mentioned, after Toffoli - who sits second with eight goals - was recently placed on injured reserve.
Here's a look at some notable Kings:
| Player | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Tanner Pearson | 33 | 8 |
| Drew Doughty | 35 | 5 |
| Dustin Brown | 35 | 5 |
| Anze Kopitar | 30 | 3 |
| Marian Gaborik | 13 | 1 |
After the loss to Vancouver, the Kings still hold the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a plus-two goal differential. That's a testament to Peter Budaj's performance in relief of Quick, though, as Los Angeles ranks 22nd with a goals-per-game average of 2.49 while allowing a sixth-ranked 2.36.
If the goal-scoring doesn't pick up, the Kings will risk falling out of the playoff picture, and it won't be because of goaltending.
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