Bringing it home

The Kings are 7-0 in their last seven road games and 3-4 in their last home games, a disparity that is impossible to completely explain. It’s not uncommon for a team, particularly a young team, to have some road success and develop a “road mentality,” but it usually balances out over time.  In the Kings’ case, they better hope so. Five of their six games before the Olympic break are at home, and the sixth is down the road at Anaheim. Today, Jarret Stoll talked about the importance of building momentum off the 5-0 road trip, and how to do it.

STOLL: “Obviously we’re coming back with a lot of confidence, but it’s the same game. We’ve got to bring that same game, that road game, and play smart. We don’t have to try to do too much. At home, the focus has to be there for sure. That seven-game homestand, I think there were some games where we weren’t prepared, weren’t ready to start the game, and we weren’t playing with our structure and our system right off the bat. I think we’ve got to really focus on that tonight, especially tonight, in our first game back.

“It’s one of those things, and you hear it all the time, the first game back from a road trip, but it’s all mental, it’s all focus. We’ve got to make sure we’re talking about it a lot before the game and making sure everybody is ready and prepared. It’s about preparing yourselves. Everybody has to take it upon themselves to make sure they’re ready to start the game. However they get into the game, do it, and make sure you’re ready.”