Kopitar on line’s chemistry, Herren’s presentation

Though the Kings have scored only two regulation goals over the last two games, their scoring chances have appeared to have been of both high quality and quantity. If you are a preseason fist-shaker, shake your fists at both Semyon Varlamov and Anton Khudobin.

Darryl Sutter said earlier today that he doesn’t necessarily look at the sheer quality of chances, but rather who is generating them, and the type of competition that particular line is facing.

“It’s hard to put if you like it or if you don’t like it based on what your lineup is and who they’re against,” Sutter said earlier today. “I paid a lot more attention the last two games of who’s on the ice against who, and what they’re actually doing, more than what the scoring chances are. Like, what is the number of scoring chances? Against top teams, if you get into the teens, that’s a lot.”

Speaking with reporters earlier today, Anze Kopitar spoke about the preseason scoring chances the Kings have generated, and whether he’s content with the direction of the chemistry he’s building with Marian Gaborik and Milan Lucic. He also discussed the presentation by former NBA player Chris Herren, who was brought in by the Kings to speak to the team about his own experiences in winning a battle against drug and alcohol abuse.

Anze Kopitar, on preseason scoring chances:
I think every guy in here will tell you that when the scoring chances are not coming, that’s where the red [warning] light starts flashing. But if we’re getting scoring chances, it’s just a matter of time. We can tell it’s still early, but obviously you want to score as much as you can, so we’ve been working on it the last couple days in practice, too. We’ve had some significant improvement, I think, so we should be fine.

Kopitar, on the importance of building on his line’s strong performance in Colorado:
Oh, absolutely. That’s what we were trying to do. Looch was playing even the extra game that me and Gabby didn’t against Anaheim, just to maybe get the comfort level up a little bit and everything. But I think Saturday is obviously going to be – I don’t want to say a ‘huge’ game – but it’s going to be a pretty important game for us just to get our game going, and obviously it’s the last game, and you’ve got to have the comfort level somewhat in place. But we were working on it, we have been, and we’re still going to work on it, and we’ll be ready opening night.

Kopitar, on whether the final preseason game is the most important one:
Yeah, and for us, we’re fortunate enough to play in Vegas, so even the crowd is fired up. It’s a lot easier when you play there and the building is full and everybody’s having fun. Even the energy off that, you can use that to energize yourself within the team, so obviously it’s probably the best preseason game you can possibly be in.

Kopitar, on building chemistry with his linemates:
I mean, the comfort level is not there a hundred percent yet, but we’re getting there. That’s what we’re striving to, and we’re talking a lot, and just again, it all comes down to playing to your strengths now. Looch came in probably not knowing what me and Gabby are really about, and now we’re [inaudible], and vice-versa, too. You know [Lucic’s strengths], but the detail that is really important, you don’t know that. We’re getting to know each other, and we’ll be fine.

Kopitar, on Chris Herren’s presentation:
It was very deep. I think sometimes when doctors come in and the league does the mandatory thing, maybe you’re there, but you’re not quite there, you know? I think yesterday was very different. When Chris started talking, everybody was there a hundred percent. I felt at least for myself, I was obviously very impressed with the story and how everything just turned out and how long he was dragging all this addiction and everything. It was pretty deep, and obviously you don’t want to be in those shoes by any means, but I guess what im trying to say is this story is told better from the actual guy and not from doctors and somebody that specializes in that. It’s obviously a lot more emotional and heartbreaking, and you feel like you’re more a part of the story. [Reporter: A couple guys said it was really riveting, what you just mentioned, that you couldn’t take your eyes off him.] Oh yeah. I mean, you could tell – and he told us too – there were a couple times throughout the story that you could tell he had to hold back to not start crying, which is obviously heartbreaking for everybody involved. When you hear that he tells that story about 250 times a year, and still feels that effect just like he’s telling it for the first time, again, it’s deep and very emotional.