Help needed for Voynov, young defensemen

Slava Voynov seems to be getting the longest look on defense in the absence of Drew Doughty. Voynov will get his third preseason game tonight, and Terry Murray recently said he believed Voynov to be “ahead’’ of Thomas Hickey in terms of readiness to grab an NHL spot. Tonight, Voynov is scheduled to partner with Davis Drewiske, as Willie Mitchell gets the night off. Dean Lombardi declined trade offers for Voynov last year, and reviews were strong for Voynov in the preseason opener against Phoenix. This morning, Murray was asked for his thoughts on Voynov’s game on Sunday against Anaheim…

MURRAY: “He was good. He’s feeling his way along. I feel our forwards needed to be a lot better, to help our young defensemen out. I think we’re sniffing a little bit, trying to create some turnovers in the middle of the ice. It’s not the right time, the right place. Our forward, now, gets lost and we’re under stressed attacks, 3-on-2s and even four coming. I think, with young defensemen like Hickey and Voynov and Campbell here, and you’ve got Martinez with a year under his belt, the way that we’re playing, as a forward group right now, makes it hard on these young guys. That will be my pregame talk here tonight, the importance of doing things right, staying with the structure, getting your foundation in place.

“You’ve got to come back and help your defensemen on a more consistent basis than what we did in that game against Anaheim. I thought we turned a lot of pucks over, and the reason for it is the lack of support. The D-men need the forwards, right now, in order to get the puck moving, and (the Ducks) were coming at us pretty aggressively. So, I guess the short answer is, it was kind of difficult to evaluate how that individual is playing, because it is a team game and the forwards were leaving the D out to dry in some situations.’’