Clifford says he’s improving

To date, these playoffs certainly haven’t gone the way Kyle Clifford had hoped. On April 11, Clifford suffered a concussion in Game 1 of the first-round series against Vancouver, after a hit by Byron Bitz that led two a two-game suspension. Clifford missed the final four games of that series and is scheduled to be scratched for Game 1 against St. Louis tonight. The news has been more positive for Clifford in recent days, though. He has been a full participant in practice for the past two days and, in particular, put in a lot of work during and after today’s morning skate. Afterward, Clifford said things are going in the right direction, even if he doesn’t know exactly when he might play again…

CLIFFORD: “I feel good. I started practicing yesterday. I’ve just got to keep getting ready for the next game, whenever it is, and keep going one day at a time. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. I’ll just stay positive.’’

Question: You went through this last year also, right?

CLIFFORD: “Yeah, but not to his severity. Last year was very mild, compared to this one. It was a matter of precaution last year. This year, there were a couple more symptoms and it dragged out a little bit longer, but I feel good. There’s nothing to be worried about. I’ll just go one day at a time and stay in the moment.’’

Question: It’s just making sure things keep trending in the right direction…

CLIFFORD: “Everything has been going in the right direction. It’s all looking good.’’

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.