Drew Doughty

LA Kings Shoot Themselves In The Foot In Shootout Loss To Canucks

The LA Kings shot themselves in the foot after a shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday.

The "Cardiac Kings" are at it again. The nickname given to the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings during last season's playoff run, which featured three consecutive seven-game series on the road including an opening series that saw them down 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks, has been appropriate lately.

With just three games left in the NHL's regular season, the Kings once again find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. After consecutive victories at home against mediocre opponents, the Kings lost to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night 2-1 in a shootout.

The glorified skills competition that the NHL uses to decide tiebreakers after a five-minute overtime period has been the Kings kryptonite this year. After the loss, the Kings are just 2-8 in penalty shootouts this season, including a stretch where they were 2 for 28 on shootout attempts.

The Kings continued their awful percentage in shootouts again last night as Jeff Carter (2-9), Anze Kopitar (1-9) and Marian Gaborik all missed, surrendering a valuable point to their Pacific Division foes in the process.

As of today, the Kings are tied with the Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific and one point behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second Wild Card spot in the West. The Flames own the tiebreaker against LA by virtue of regular season and overtime wins.

As fate would have it, the Kings travel to Calgary on Thursday for a game that should decide their postseason future. Assuming they win tonight against Edmonton (a team they beat 8-2 less than a week ago), then a win over the Flames would give them the third spot in the Pacific and the sixth seed in the Western Conference, a loss, and the only chance they have is to pass Winnipeg who plays St Louis, Colorado and Calgary in their final three games.

If the Kings miss the playoffs for the first time since 2009, their record in shootouts is the culprit.

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"That's obviously what has hurt us in the standings this year," said Kings defenseman Drew Doughty after Monday's loss to Vancouver. "We only got one point out of it, and it could be big for us in the end."

In all, the Kings have left eight crucial points on the board because of shootouts. To put that in perspective, had LA won all of their shootout games, they would currently be in the playoffs as the fifth seed and just one point behind Chicago for the fourth seed.

There's no rest for the weary as the "Cardiac Kings" are back in action Tuesday night against Edmonton. Kings fans are holding their collective breaths with just three games left to claw their way into the playoffs and make a run at a second straight Stanley Cup. In or out, we'll all know by the weekend.

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