Five reasons the Los Angeles Kings are the NHL's team to beat

The Los Angeles Kings lost their first three games this season and then remembered who they were and what they are about. Since then, the Kings are 18-5-1.

Here are five reasons why the Kings should now be considered the NHL's team to beat:

1. There's history here: It's not as if the Kings are new kids on the block. They won a Stanley Cup 18 months ago, and have won two Stanley Cups in the past 42 months. The core group of players who have won those two championships, and 41 playoff games since 2012, is still intact.

2. Kings own the puck: According to War-on-ice.com, the Kings have the best Corsi rating (57.6%) by a wide margin. Nashville is second at 54.6%. Corsi is considered a statistical measure of puck possession. Any percentage over 50% is considered good. The Kings' puck possession dominance is well-established.

3. Doughty is No. 1: If you ask NHL team executives and pro scouts to rank the NHL's top defensemen, a good number say Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is the best in the game. He's never won a Norris Trophy, and he certainly deserves one. He's averaging 27:42 minutes per game, and his Corsi rating is 59.75%. Doughty is one of the top difference-makers in the game.

4. Defense is King: The Kings rank second with a 2.07 goals-against average per game. We all saw what the happened last June when the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL's highest-scoring team, matched up against an exceptional defensive team in the Stanley Cup. Defense still wins championships and coach Darryl Sutter's Kings know how to play that defensive style. Goalie Jonathan Quick (2.18 goals-against average) is at the heart of the team's stingy defensive play. The Kings expect Quick to deliver in big games because he has a history of doing that.

5. Right team, right time: The Kings have all the ingredients necessary to win, especially the requisite grittiness for postseason competition. The addition of Milan Lucic last summer simply added to the Kings' reputation for being hard to play against. Veterans such as Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Jake Muzzin, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, etc., understand what must be done for this team be successful. And if they forget for a moment, Sutter is there to remind them. All of the talk in the Western Conference is about the Central Division, but the Pacific-leading Kings still have a team that can win it all.

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