How's the second line?

Before I head out to the morning skate…

Before the season, most of us agreed that second-line scoring would be one of the most important factors in the Kings’ success or failure. I still believe that, because there’s no realistic way the top line can continue to average six points per game, so how is the second line of Dustin Brown, Teddy Purcell and Jarret Stoll doing?

Well, Purcell has already scored two big third-period goals, and while I thought the line was average at best in the first two games, they seemed to pick things up against Minnesota. Terry Murray talked about the importance of that, and not necessarily just in the offensive zone…

MURRAY: “Brownie does a really good job on his forecheck. He’s very intense. He’s physical and he’s hard. I really like Stoll, the way he’s going at things right now, at both ends of the rink, from dots to boards. He’s got a real attitude as far as going after it, separating the player from the puck, coming up and making plays with it.

“I think that just carries over to results, the big goal by Purcell (against Minnesota) being one of those results. That started in our D zone with strong play, and they attacked with a lot of speed. Three guys from low, and they generate the speed through the middle of the ice, and a quality play is made as a result from that.’’

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