Sighs of relief were felt among the white-clad Los Angeles Kings to end their road trip.

A year after scoring 17 goals, Phillip Danault got his fifth in a season full of lengthy droughts. A year after potting a career-high 31 goals, Trevor Moore snapped a 14-game spell with his seventh of the season. Kevin Fiala also scored a pair of dynamic goals.

It all fueled a much-needed 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes that changed the tenor of a plane ride home following an otherwise discouraging road trip marked by a scuffling offense.

Before the win, the Kings had gone 2-7-1 in a 10-game stretch where they scored just 15 goals. Five came in one of those two victories. A five-game trip for the team that has played the most road games in the NHL started with an overtime loss before three straight regulation defeats — the last two in which they failed to score. It made Saturday’s win all the more redemptive.

“If you had a team with not a lot of character, they might stray from the game plan and stray from playing defense when the puck’s not going in,” Moore said. “We didn’t do that. We’ve been playing consistently. We haven’t had the goals and that’s on us, right? But we played hard, played good defense and finally got rewarded.”

Dry January was taken too literally. The swoon took a Kings team out of firm playoff position into a place where they’re fighting off Calgary and Vancouver, with the Flames just one point back in the second Western Conference wild-card spot and the Canucks three behind as the first team out of the picture.

The Kings are getting great goaltending from Darcy Kuemper and are working Drew Doughty back into a defense that allows the second-fewest shots on goal and has played a big role in the team being fifth in goals-against average (2.52). But the offense has cratered, falling to 24th as the result of scoring only 22 goals over 13 January games.

February started on a better note Saturday, but the rough month called attention to a potential problem for the stretch run and the postseason — which isn’t such a certainty right now. Can the Kings count on some of their forwards who have gone quiet, like the aforementioned, or others like Alex Laferriere (zero goals in last 13 games), Warren Foegele (one goal in his last 14) and even Anze Kopitar (zero points in last six games and no goals in last 14) heating up again?

Or is it time for general manager Rob Blake to step up and bring in some outside help? His moves to sign Foegele and defenseman Joel Edmundson have paid off, but this is now about addressing deficiencies while his club pushes to secure that playoff spot and take another stab at getting out of the first round. Can Blake find that additional scoring threat this team lacks? Can he pull off such a move?

The second question comes with baked-in difficulty. The Kings have just over $1.6 million of cap space according to PuckPedia and are without a second-round pick in the 2025 draft, as it was surrendered to Tampa Bay in the trade for Tanner Jeannot. They do have their first-round selection, but 2024 top pick Liam Greentree was their first first-round choice in three years and the 19-year-old top scorer of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires is the best prospect in a pool ranked 26th by The Athletic.

Without a ton of prime assets, Blake and his staff could have to get creative if they want to give Kopitar, Doughty and company a boost as they did at the 2023 trade deadline and were unable to do last year. The upcoming pause for the 4 Nations Face-Off has acted as a soft deadline — forwards have been on the move, from the biggest names in Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Miller; to Martin Necas, Filip Chytil, Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost; to older veterans like Taylor Hall, Mikael Granlund and Brandon Saad.

Is there something that can work for the Kings? Or are they bound to make their playoff push with what they’ve got? Here are some forwards they could kick the tires on. (Brad Marchand, who’s now on an expiring contract, would be something if Boston were to contemplate moving its captain, but I just can’t see the Kings pulling that off even as a rental. Plus, his $6.125 million cap hit won’t work.)

Rickard Rakell

Age: 31. Cap number: $5 million. Clause: 8-team no-trade.

With a team-leading 23 goals, Rakell is having a strong season for a disappointing Pittsburgh club. He can play either left or right wing and he wouldn’t be a rental as he has three more years left on his contract. But that only increases his value and it’s not like the Penguins have to trade him with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still around. GM Kyle Dubas is starting to assemble younger pieces, and the Kings would have to attach one of NHL-quality or a high draft pick with possibly Moore ($4.2 million with no trade protection).

Kyle Palmieri

Age: 34. Cap number: $5 million. Clause: 16-team no-trade.

The fact that Palmieri is on an expiring deal is appealing but the cap number is a hurdle and while he started with Anaheim, he’s an East Coast guy who’s played near home with New Jersey and the New York Islanders. And if the Islanders continue to hang around the playoff picture, GM Lou Lamoriello may not be in sell mode. But Palmieri, with his 260 career goals, can put pucks in the net.

Michael Bunting

Age: 29. Cap number: $4.5 million. Clause: 10-team no-trade.

Here’s another Penguins entry. While Bunting isn’t as good as Rakell, he’s feasted on the power play and can agitate while also displaying some finish around the net. Bunting has another year left on his contract so he wouldn’t be attractive as a pure rental. It might take the Pens retaining some salary or getting a third team involved. (Pittsburgh has one retention slot remaining for this year.)

Jason Zucker

Age: 33. Cap number: $5 million. Clause: None.

The speedy veteran has done well in Buffalo after signing a one-year contract. He’s high up on the Sabres in goals (18) and points (38). The workaround is his cap hit and the Kings also not having many movable contracts — for instance, Jeannot ($2.665M) has a 16-team NTC. They’ve got surplus defensemen to throw in, but a prime asset would have to be the key piece. And it’s possible Buffalo extends Zucker.

Oliver Bjorkstrand

Age: 29. Cap number: $5.4 million. Clause: 10-team no-trade.

Bjorkstrand has been an effective complementary scorer for Seattle. While the Kraken don’t need to deal him as he has another year on his contract, they have also gone about as far as they can go with their current mix. The difficulty here is another pricey forward who could be out of reach for the Kings unless they can get some other team involved to take on some salary. And it will cost plenty to do that.

Gustav Nyquist

Age: 35. Cap number: $3.185 million. Clause: None.

Impending UFA Nyquist is less costly from a cap hit standpoint and there isn’t any trade clause obstacle to work around. Perhaps a 2025 third-round pick or a 2026 second-round choice — although that is supposed to be a better draft — could work. After a great 23-goal, 75-point season in 2023-24, Nyquist’s numbers have taken a big hit this season in a lesser role after Nashville added Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.

Nils Höglander

Age: 24. Cap number: $1.1 million. Clause: None.

Here’s what makes Höglander interesting. He’s on the youthful side so it’s possible he could be a transitional part to the Kings’ future. It would take betting on him being closer to the energetic 24-goal scorer he was with Vancouver last season and not the player who looks like he’s fallen out of favor with coach Rick Tocchet. But he can fit in this season as his three-year, $9 million extension doesn’t kick in until next year.

Ryan Donato

Age: 28. Cap number: $2 million. Clause: None.

What makes Donato appealing is his manageable salary and that he’s got 15 goals in a walk year for Chicago. He’s also averaged 17 goals for every 82 games and has hit double figures in six of his eight NHL seasons. The cost wouldn’t be prohibitive (a mid-round pick, perhaps?) but you do wonder if his success this season is more about getting a bigger opportunity with the lowly Blackhawks.