Stepping up for Smyth

Here’s a little more on the Ryan Smyth injury, from Terry Murray and Justin Williams, including some thoughts from each about what the Kings will need to do, in Smyth’s absence, in order to keep winning. With Smyth out, the Kings’ forwards will skate as follows:

Frolov-Kopitar-Williams
Parse-Stoll-Brown
Purcell-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Richardson-Harrold

MURRAY: “It could be up to four weeks with that. … It’s very unfortunate that you lose a player that’s an important player for your team, that’s going to be out up to that length of time. But you know, you take a look around the league, there’s all kinds of injuries to top players. You’ve got to deal with it. It’s part of the game.

“It’s an opportunity for Fro right now. He’s going to be up on the left side with Kopitar. So take advantage of it. I hope he plays very well there. We’ve seen his play in the past with Kopitar. They’ve had good chemistry together, so hopefully it can come together right away.”

I asked Williams what his new line needed to do in order to keep scoring without Smyth.

WILLIAMS: “Hopefully we do the same thing that they did when I was out (injured). Just switch it around. Kopi scored a hat trick in that first game. Obviously, we can’t replace him. He’s got that intangible quality. He’s there, he’s around and he’s going to make something happen. He’s going to make smart plays with the puck and battle for the puck down low as much as he can.

“We’ve got kind of a similar player, I think, with Fro. Both good in the corners, both strong on the puck, both look to make offense from it. Smytty, he’s going to certainly be missed for however long he’s out, but we’ve got the ability to pick it up in here and score in his absence. I know Fro is looking to get some goals going. I’m looking to get some goals going. So hopefully we can get some spark and get some secondary scoring, which we need more consistently.”