January 15 practice notes & Forbort, Budaj quotes

Greetings from Gundo on this Sunday brunch hour as the Kings took the ice at 11 a.m., the morning following their 3-2 overtime win against the Jets. Reign Insider Lindsay Czarnecki here today, from Ontario last night to L.A., filling in for LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen. Practice started with a young fan asking: “Why do the Kings have to practice even though they’re really, really good?”

–Here’s how the group aligned:
Yellow: Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Trevor Lewis
Light blue: Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Dustin Brown
Green: Andy Andreoff – Nic Dowd – Devin Setoguchi
Purple: Nick Shore centering mixes of Kyle Clifford, Dwight King and Jordan Nolan

Derek Forbort – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Alec Martinez
Kevin Gravel – Matt Greene
Brayden McNabb – Tom Gilbert

–It was a quick skate, with some players even coming off as early as 11:15. The Kings won’t have a morning skate tomorrow before hosting Tampa Bay (20-20-4) at 1 p.m. on a rare afternoon start on the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

–There was no sighting of Tyler Toffoli, who has not played since Dec. 20. Rosen had a non-update update on goalie Jonathan Quick this morning:

Also asked Lombardi about Quick. "No change – long way off," he said.

— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) January 15, 2017

–On the prospect end, Kale Clague, the team’s pick at No. 51 overall in 2016, has four goals and 19 assists in 27 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL).

Dean Lombardi was in Brandon, MB last night. Asked him about Kale Clague (2A, +1 in 4-0 win over Kootenay). "Kid makes a ton of plays."

— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) January 15, 2017

Derek Forbort, on what’s been going well in the last two games:
I think just playing with desperation. I mean, we’re fighting for a playoff spot right now so I think everyone’s desperation level is pretty high right now and that’s the way we have to play if we want to win.

Forbort, on what the process is for a quick turnaround between games with a 1 p.m. start Monday:
I think just being mentally ready. You’ve just got to be ready right from the drop of the puck with those 1 o’clock games, you know you don’t get a skate in the morning but I think if you’re sharp mentally it’s fine.

Peter Budaj, on what’s been going well in the last two games:
You know it’s, you know hockey you kind of have to have a short memory and I think it’s a cliché but it’s true. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint but still you have to learn from your mistakes and just try to get better and try to forget about the game that was even yesterday. We had a big win but the game’s over now. We’ve just got to focus on the next game we have tomorrow so you’ve just got to forget it quick and just go back, just keep working and keep believing in the system, staying to the system and support each other. So I think just don’t get too high and too low.

Budaj, on the recent success of the Kings’ offense:
I mean I think you can’t really pinpoint why sometimes pucks go in and why sometimes pucks doesn’t. I think you just try to stay as relaxed as possible and also intense, too. You need to be intense, you need to want to score and you want to go to the dirty areas that the puck lays around the net. Go in the corners, go in the screens, tips ‘cause 70-80% of the goals in the NHL are from either point shots, screens, tips, rebounds. Those are the goals. You rarely have the highlight goals, they’re very rare but that’s why we have to just do that. I think we’ve been starting to click more and more and I know the guys are working really hard and try to score all the time but sometimes it doesn’t go in so we just have to stay the course and just don’t change anything. Just keep working hard and it’s going to turn around.