Playoff Practice!<\/p>\n
Always enjoy this day. It\u2019s one of the only days throughout the entire season when you can look at things from a wider-lens. The NHL is so much of a \u201cour only focus is the next game\u201d kind of league. The playoffs are only of the only times when that changes to an extent, because all of the next games are against the same opponent. You can look at a series against Colorado, not just the next game against Colorado, even though all the Kings can do is try and win Game 1. <\/p>\n
Obviously that\u2019s where the focus is \u2013 Game 1. Lineup decisions are made for Game 1. Strategy is implemented for Game 1, to potentially be adjusted based on how Game 1 goes. But today, players are asked about a series. About key storylines and X-Factors. About confidence going into a matchup, not just a game. Always find these days interesting, because they are usually full of optimism. The Kings and Avalanche are 0-0 today. No blood drawn. Regardless of what you think of the odds, today this is a 0-0 series. It was approached as such today.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s practice might be the only one the Kings will get until a two-day break between Games 4 and 5. Typically, days in between playoff games are optional skates or off-ice workouts. Could change, as we haven\u2019t seen how the Kings approach those situations yet under D.J. Smith. But today was a full-team practice, with eyes on Colorado. It\u2019ll be video review and game-to-game adjustments from here on forward, so today was a chance to work on a few specific details.<\/p>\n
In terms of today\u2019s practice, here\u2019s what we saw from the Kings \u2013<\/p>\n
Panarin \u2013 Kopitar \u2013 Kempe
Moore \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Laferriere
Armia \u2013 Laughton \u2013 Wright
Malott \u2013 Helenius \u2013 Joseph
Ward \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Kuzmenko<\/p>\n
Anderson \u2013 Doughty
Edmundson \u2013 Clarke
Dumoulin \u2013 Ceci
Moverare<\/p>\n
Forsberg \/ Kuemper<\/p>\n
The Kings had 15 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders on the ice. Among them were forwards Jeff Malott and Andrei Kuzmenko, both of whom required injury updates. <\/p>\n
Malott did not travel with the Kings on their season-ending roadtrip, remaining back in Los Angeles. He skated on his own at Toyota Sports Performance Center and rejoined the group today. He is available to play in Game 1 against Colorado on Sunday afternoon and is expected to be on the plane to Denver. For Kuzmenko, he was activated off injured reserve this afternoon and today was notable because it was the first time he has practiced with the group since he tore his meniscus last month. Kuzmenko has been on the ice for a few weeks now but had yet to progress into a full-team skate. He didn\u2019t travel, either. He is an option for Game 1 as well, per D.J. Smith, but not sure if he will feature. Alex Turcotte is also available to play, coming of an injury of his own, and was a full participant today as well. Turcotte did travel on the regular season-ending trip and is good to go, if called upon. <\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be interesting to see how the Kings potentially integrate Kuzmenko into the lineup, if he\u2019s ready. Could see it a few ways. The Kings don\u2019t have a ton of scoring in their bottom six but Kuzmenko also hasn\u2019t played in, what, two months? That\u2019s a long absence and there\u2019s no time to get up to speed. Either got it or you don\u2019t at this time of the year. Will be interesting to see how that process goes. Wouldn\u2019t be shocked to see him potentially integrated in this series, depending on how things go. Could be tomorrow. But not a guarantee that it will be. <\/p>\n
As for today\u2019s skate, the team was on the ice for around 40 minutes. Seemed to be a couple of targeted focal points related to Colorado, but ultimately it\u2019s bigger than that. The Kings have to be at their very best to compete in this series. Their very best, consistently, for 60+ minutes a night will allow them to do just that. But they\u2019ve got to find that level early and maintain it. They understand that. <\/p>\n
In asking players about the matchup ahead, the Kings know that nothing is guaranteed in this series, but they\u2019ve got confidence going into Game 1.<\/p>\n
Adrian Kempe \u2013 Good team we\u2019re playing, obviously one of the best in the league, good challenge for us. I think there\u2019s less pressure on us, I think that\u2019s a good thing. I think we\u2019re feeling good in the group, over the last couple of months here that we\u2019ve been playing, I think we\u2019ve been playing solid and confidence is high. We\u2019re looking forward to the series. Obviously, it\u2019s going to be a tough series against a really good team but I think we\u2019re up for the challenge. Everybody\u2019s really excited. <\/p>\n
Quinton Byfield \u2013 Yeah, obviously they finished first, they\u2019re the Presidents Trophy winners and they\u2019ve got a lot of skilled players as well, but it\u2019s a lot about us as well. Just knowing that we can play with them and play our game and kind of just try to take their speed away early. Just do what we were doing down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Artemi Panarin acknowledged similar things, but finished with the thought that I think the Kings are trying to embrace as a whole. They\u2019re a good team, but the Kings\u2019 focus has to be on the Kings. If they do that, the veteran forward believes that this team can do it. Simple as that, for the bread man. <\/p>\n
I wrote about this yesterday and would maintain the same perspective after talking to several players and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith today. The Kings are under no illusions about who they are playing but they aren\u2019t flying to Colorado to make up the numbers. There are going to be stretches of play that will favor the Avalanche and a big focal point will be managing and cutting off those stretches as quickly and effectively as they can. The Kings believe they have ways that they can compete and contend in this series, they just have to go in and do those things. There is a path to being able to keep these games close and competitive and if there\u2019s one thing that the Kings have done all season, it\u2019s keeping these games close no matter who the opponent is. There are non-negotiables for the Kings that will have to come through. If they can do those things, they believe they will be competitive. Easy to say, very difficult to do. We\u2019ll see what it looks like in person tomorrow afternoon. <\/p>\n
Following today\u2019s skate, the Kings departed for Colorado, in advance of tomorrow\u2019s matinee start. It\u2019s a quick turn here. The team arrived back in Los Angeles from Calgary in the very early hours of the morning on Friday, before a full-team day off. They skated today and are now back on the plane right around 36 hours later. Such is life, when you enter Game 82 with so many different scenarios. <\/p>\n
Won\u2019t be any excuses come the playoffs. Doesn\u2019t matter if you make them. A loss moves you within three games of elimination. A win and you\u2019ve stolen home-ice advantage. No time for anything other than results. Kings expect to have their best stuff tomorrow in Colorado. They\u2019ll need it, against the Presidents Trophy winners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Playoff Practice! Always enjoy this day. It\u2019s one of the only days throughout the entire season when you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-592492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}