Chemistry from Brown, Richards

Yesterday, the subject of Scott Parse, and his past and (potential) future contributions to the second line were discussed. That second line, including center Mike Richards and right winger Dustin Brown, has been an interesting one thus far. Richards (10 points) and Brown (nine points) rank second and third, respectively, on the team in points, but five of Richards’ points and four of Brown’s points have come on the power play. As discussed yesterday, Terry Murray and the Kings would like to see some increased 5-on-5 production as well. So far, though, Brown and Richards seem to be developing the chemistry the Kings hoped for when they were put together at the start of training camp.

MURRAY: “That’s a big part of the goal that you look for, coming out of training camp. You’re looking for individual confidence to be high. You’re looking for team confidence to be high. And certainly when you have new players coming on board, you want to see some chemistry start to develop. I felt pretty good about the look that Brown and Richards were showing, coming out of the training camp. You’ve got a guy, in Richards, who is a very good puck-handler and sees the ice extremely well, and Brownie, who plays that power-forward kind of role and has speed, size, strength and goes to the net. We’ve seen some good things happen, with playing the game with that type of attitude.

“There have been plays to the net. Brownie gets to the top of the crease and he’s in his tripod (stance) and presents his stick, and Richards is such a good passer that he just has to stay strong in that situation and usually the puck will be able to find his stick. So overall, there’s a good foundation starting to take place and starting to build. I think with another scorer on the left side, who is finding the back of the net a little bit, in Parse, there’s a good chance that line could be a line I keep together for another three or four games. That was just a joke. [laughs]’’