Martinez familiar, comfortable with right side

With right-shooting Matt Greene limited to 38 games a season ago, left-shooting defenseman Alec Martinez was presented with a new role with the club. As it turned out, the Kings’ double-overtime hero has ample versatility in his game.

“I was just saying I think I played most of the regular season last year on the right side,” said Martinez, who will skate to Robyn Regehr’s right in tonight’s game against Buffalo.

Interestingly, his first experience on the right side last season came alongside Willie Mitchell in an early season game against the Sabres at Staples Center, a game the Kings won 2-0. As the season developed, chemistry with Mitchell grew and there was added comfort playing on his off-side. Martinez saw more time with Mitchell than any other Kings defenseman last season.

But Mitchell is now a Florida Panther, and with right-shooting defenseman Slava Voynov suspended indefinitely, he’ll look to build up chemistry with Regehr.

“There are a lot of similarities with [Mitchell and Regehr], but I played with Reggie a bit last year,” Martinez said. “Everyone talks about pairings and things like that, but at the end of the day we’ve played with each other enough by now. Whether it be in training camp or just in practice taking reps with other guys when you have an odd number of D. So I don’t see any issue there.”

Martinez actually experienced an offensive spike when skating on the right side last season. His seven goals and 15 points in the 17 games between March 1 and April 3 came while skating almost exclusively to Mitchell’s right during five-on-five play.

“Well, we’re not looking for an ‘offensive spike’ from Marty,” Darryl Sutter said yesterday. “The position is one, that if you want to be on a good team, is that you move the puck out of the zone really well and you defend really well, so we’re not looking for an ‘offensive spike’ from Marty. If he plays the right side with Robyn, or if he plays the left side with Greener, I think he’s playing with the same players that just shoot different.”

There’s not much of a change in fundamentals when playing an off-side. Martinez noted that “you have to change things up a little bit in terms of your angles and where you position your stick in certain areas of the ice.”

“I think you have to sometimes throw an extra, or two, shoulder checks there just because I guess in certain parts of the ice you just can’t see it as well when receiving pucks and things like that. I mean I’ve done it a lot and at the end of the day I’m a hockey player and you’ve got to be able to play whichever side, I think,” he said.

Alec Martinez, on whether his role on defense is changed by personnel issues:
I don’t know. I don’t really think about that a whole lot. I’m just going to try to keep doing what I’ve been doing and just play my game and move my feet and get the puck going and get it in the forwards hands and try to contribute a little bit offensively.

Martinez, on maintaining the appropriate pace when playing his off-side:
Yeah, like I said, there are little things you have to adjust in your game. But at the end of the day, our style of game is the same and, like I said, changing some angles and things like that and a lot more shoulder checks. But other than that, I think I’m just as capable of getting the puck up on the right side as I am on the left.