Richards: Small lapses have to be eliminated

When asked after last night’s game about the challenges the Kings faced in contending with a red hot and up tempo Rangers team, Darryl Sutter referenced the team’s play without the puck.

“You’ve got to be able to skate with them, you have to have the speed through your lineup to do it, and you have to be able to check,” he said. “We had some top players tonight not in the checking mood.”

He never mentioned Mike Richards by name – and Richards was far from the only player Sutter may have accused of having an off-night – but given that the center played a season-low 9:07, logged a game-low 7:13 at even strength, and served as an extra skater during Friday line rushes, it became clear that the Kings’ coach was either asking for more from Richards, or was trying to send a message. Perhaps it was both.

I asked Richards about the team’s play without the puck this season, and whether it was different from his previous seasons with the team. Contained in his answer was a mix of honesty and awkward humor.

“I can’t remember that far back,” he said. “Five concussions, jeez.”

After a brief, uncomfortable laugh, I followed up with a question about whether there is anything inherent in the team’s play in games in which they check well – I referenced the 4-0 win at Minnesota and the 3-1 home win versus San Jose, specifically – as compared to games such as last night’s.

“I think we still do those good things. It just seems like there are little mistakes that end up in our net a lot, and speaking personally and I think for the team, every time something seems to happen on the ice, it ends up in the net,” he said. “You don’t want to call it luck because you do make the mistake, but it’s just those small lapses that I think we have to eliminate. It’s tough to do. It’s being ready for every shift and being focused. It’s not ‘one thing.’ It’s not one thing you have to be better at. It’s consistently being ready for every shift for the most part and not having those lulls. You see even last night, they get three goals in 10 minutes? Is that what it was? Five minutes?”

It was five minutes and 46 seconds.

“So you eliminate some of those lulls, and all of a sudden it’s a two-one game still, a two-two game, stuff like that. So I think it’s just being focused for every shift, and when you do that, you’re obviously going to create a lot more.”

After our conversation, Richards said that five concussions was probably too high of a count, and that three or four was likely more accurate. Perhaps that’s a story for another time.

Richards, who has been a model team player, a consistent winner throughout his career and among the most integral pieces of both the team’s 2012 Stanley Cup run and the three Game 7s last season, has five goals and 14 points in 41 games.

Back on the subject at hand, he answered questions about both his play and the team’s recent play.

Mike Richards, on facing a fast New York team:
I think we weren’t ready for it. It was them just flicking the puck out and then just rushing to grab it. They did that well, and then some of the bounces at Staples, they seemed to get the puck a lot on that play. But it’s difficult to defend, really, when they rush three guys like that and just how you flip it, you kind of lose track of the puck sometimes. I mean, they’re a quick team. I think once we started getting our legs going- [Reporter: Because the start was good, obviously.] Yeah, it’s just like any hockey game. We’re going to have lulls and we’re going to have momentum swings, but it’s how you handle the momentum swings that kind of make the outcome, I guess. They came at us with a lot of speed, and I think once we started getting our game going, though, we kind of countered that as well.

Richards, on balancing ice time with wanting to fill a role that is best for the team:
That’s not fun. It’s no good. I still obviously think I can play a lot more minutes, but at the same time, you play what you’re put in the position of. I’m not going to cause a scene or do anything to kind of take the focus away from everything, and [I’m] just going to come to the rink every day and play hockey.

Richards, on whether he’s waiting for a spark and the positive results to follow:
I try to. You come to the rink every day. It is what it is, to be honest. You come here, you work, you get ready for a hockey game just like any other year or any other time, and that’s about all you can do.