Road doesn’t get any easier for Kings

The Kings just finished playing road games in Alberta on back-to-back nights. Things don’t get any easier. Now, after a practice day, they get to face the always-difficult Vancouver Canucks, who are no doubt going to be steaming after last night’s 4-2 loss to Anaheim. Then, after a late-night flight home and a day of practice, guess who comes to town? The revenge-hungry Flames. This is nothing unique to the Kings. Every team faces tough games and tough stretches of the schedule, but the intensity and stakes start to pick up at this point of the season. That’s because teams that are out of the top eight in their respective conferences at the All-Star break generally have a very tough time climbing back in. That All-Star break looms in just more than a week.

BROWN: “The more the season goes on, you’ll start to see the number of teams that are still in it, every game that those teams play is going to be very tight. For this team, we’ve been in a lot of those games over the last couple years. I think that’s how every game is going to be for those teams that are still right there in the mix. I think we play well in those games. We have in the past, and we have played pretty well in close games this year.’’

That said, getting three out of a possible four points in Alberta for the Kings was…well, it’s hard to come up with the exact correct word. In a way, they were satisfied, but they were also quite upset with the way they played in the first two periods.

BROWN: “This time of year, you just keep moving forward. Three out of four, and we go into Vancouver and prepare ourselves for a good game, with the possibility of five out of six. At the beginning of the road trip, you say that and you’re happy. We’ve got to get out of here and get ready for Vancouver.’’