The West's Latest Hot Team: The Los Angeles Kings

In the crammed-tight Western Conference, no one except Vancouver and, occasionally Detroit, seems to get on a sustained roll. Every week, one or two teams reel off four or five wins to move into a playoff spot, and a week or two later, they've been supplanted by someone else.

This week's West standout is the Kings, 5-0-1 in their past six games, and one point out of a playoff spot after a spirited shootout win on Saturday night at Calgary. The Flames are the other hot club, 7-0-1 in their past eight games.

"A game like that is playoff atmosphere," Kings forward Justin Williams told FanHouse by phone Tuesday morning. "Any time you play in Canada it's like that, but especially Saturday night, Hockey Night in Canada. And it was a hard-checking game, a lot of guys contributing."

Are the Kings getting going at just the right time, with 29 games left to play? It's coming at an usual time. Los Angeles is on a monster 10-game road trip, and so far, they've won two and lost one game, at Minnesota, in a shootout.

As well as the team is playing, with victories over Phoenix, Boston and San Jose in the stretch, the Kings aren't going to say they've worked out all their issues. They have yet to find any real consistency this season, like nearly every other team in the crazy Pacific Division, which lately has featured five teams separated by five points.

"Unfortunately, our season has been a complete roller coaster," Williams said. "So streaky. That's not the way we want it. We've won five or six in a row at times, and we've lost that many. We're trying to find a balance. But we have to feel good about the way we're playing right now, especially on the road."

Williams had a goal and three assists on Saturday, and he's the team's top goal-scorer, with 19, but he said that after missing so much time the past few seasons with a variety of injuries, that he's not looking at his offensive stats.

"The number for me is games played," he said. "I want to play 82 games and the playoffs. ... I chalk up all those injuries to bad luck, that's what keeps me going. It's not for lack of conditioning, it's just accidents. And when I injure myself, I do it pretty well. It's never a couple of games I miss, it's a couple of months."

The Kings, who had lofty ambitions after returning to the playoffs last year, are now looking at having to make a strong charge this final stretch to get back, but Williams said the team is prepared.

"There are still 29 games left, and it will be fun," he said. "We're just going to keep trying to push up the standings and try to get ourselves in a better position."