Versatile Lewis gets a shot alongside Gaborik, Kopitar

At today’s morning skate, Trevor Lewis was skating on the first line to the right of Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar. This doesn’t matter very much, because lines are always fluid and evolve as the game progresses. Lewis won’t be next to Gaborik and Kopitar during power play time, nor will he likely be skating alongside the two highly skilled forwards one week from now.

“I think everyone is pretty used to playing with everyone in here,” Lewis said. “It definitely doesn’t matter to me. Whatever I can do to the help the team, we’ll see how it goes tonight.”

It does, though, highlight Lewis’ versatility. Capable of playing all three positions, on any of the team’s four forward lines, he’s endeared himself to his coaches through his game preparation and a selfless attitude.

“I think with me, it all comes down to my work,” Lewis said. “If I put in the work, good stuff will happen. I think, for me, I just have to keep working. Especially playing with these guys tonight, [if I] just get in there and get pucks to them and get to the net, good things will happen.”

Interestingly, Lewis’ advanced metrics have done an about-face. He’s never been a possession wizard, though this season he ranks third on the team in raw five-on-five Corsi-for at 56.8%. Among forwards, only Kopitar (57.7%) and Gaborik (57.0%) rank above him.

“They’re two great offensive players and Kopi is obviously one of the best two-way centers in the league. Playing with him, it’s easy. They’re always open and there is always an out,” he said. “Like I said, I just have to get in there and get in the corners and get pucks to them and get to the net and good things will happen.”

In each of his four previous full seasons, Lewis more or less has replicated his production, though he did enjoy a scoring spike during the truncated 2012-13 campaign. He has never finished anywhere outside of between 90 and 111 shots on goal (though his numbers in 2012-13 prorated over 82 games tell of a 157-shot pace, and he’s on pace for 149 shots this season despite having missed nine games due to injury). His shooting percentage – a topic on Twitter earlier today – has risen modestly between his first full year in 2010-11 and this season. His current 6.7% overall shooting percentage is a career-high – and the 13th best mark on the team.

It’s almost off-base to analyze personal statistics for a player whose value is aligned so much more towards the collective good than individual accolades. But Lewis, who is more likely to be aligned with checking forwards than Gaborik and Kopitar, will absorb some of the spotlight for such an important divisional game.

Trevor Lewis, on whether the team has momentum heading into tonight’s game:
Yeah, I think so. I think those two were pretty solid games for us. I’d say checking-wise, we were pretty good and limiting their chances. I think when we’re a good checking team, we’re a good team.

Lewis, on whether the team feels comfortable in their current position:
I don’t know. Like you said, we’ve been through it before. We know what it takes and, like we’ve been saying for the past couple weeks now, we’re playing playoff hockey already just to get in the playoffs. We need to keep up the momentum from the last two games and get this thing rolling.