Greene talks return, praises Martinez

Matt Greene contributed 13:01 of ice time in his return to the Kings lineup in a 3-1 loss at Chicago on Sunday after missing 18 games with an upper-body injury. Other than one shorthanded shift, the entirety of his ice time was logged at even strength. He registered two hits in his return to the lineup and on Monday spoke about where his game was at.

“Just trying to get my game going, that’s it,” he said. “It’s good to get back in there and feel it again, but it’s a long ways to go, and it has to happen soon.”

Similar to Darryl Sutter – who on Monday said that Alec Martinez has “played good for us” in his recent opportunity – Greene was complimentary of the defensive partner with whom he skated primarily on Sunday and who has been a familiar partner over the last several seasons.

“He’s real easy to play with,” Greene said of Martinez. “He’s been playing great the last 20 games here. When he’s been in, he’s been playing really well, so he made it real easy on me.”

The lone goal in the Kings’ loss was scored by Martinez, who logged 16:14 of ice time. It was the only shot on goal registered by the team’s defensemen.

“He skates really well and plays the puck really well,” Greene said. “Again though too, that’s everyone on this team. I think everybody a real good job playing with each other, making life easy for their partner.”

Greene, on Alec Martinez playing with confidence:
Yeah, and it’s good. Everyone’s better with confidence and he’s feeling right now. He’s looking good.

Greene, on the challenges of returning to the lineup:
You have to get back to speed and that’s it. It’s always tough coming back but you have to make sure you make the transition as fast as possible. [Reporter: What was the toughest part for you?] Just getting up to speed.

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