Three down, three to go

The Kings have made it through three days of practice, and three remain. Tomorrow, there isn’t an on-ice practice, but the team will workout in El Segundo before branching out for the rink tour. After that, it’s practice Sunday and Monday before Tuesday’s game at Dallas.

The practices have been increasingly intense, with two sessions yesterday and today, and some scrimmaging today. Each practice has ended with a vigorous skate, and even Jamie Storr is participating! Here’s what Murray said about the first three days of practice…

MURRAY: “We’re seeing better focus, concentration, passing, receiving… Everything is moving along in the right direction. The tempo of the practice and the drills is good, and then you finish it off with a good hard skate. Guys are starting to get their legs underneath them again.”

Murray also talked about the need to start strong after the Olympic break. This week of practice has been compared to a mini-training camp, and that might be good news for the Kings, considering that they started this season — after the real training camp — with four wins in their first five games. It won’t be easy now, especially given that the Kings play four of their first six post-break games on the road, but a similar run of success would go a long way toward securing a playoff spot. Here’s what Murray said about trying to duplicate the first few games of the season…

MURRAY: “That’s exactly the attitude that we need to bring back in our first game. The start of the year was good for us. I think we earned the right to win those games. We played extremely well because we were ready to go physically and mentally, and that definitely is where we need to be. This month of March is so critical, that you’ve got to be able to execute your game at the `A’ level right from the very beginning.”

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