Penalty kill thriving

Whether by coincidence or not, the Kings have been very sharp on the penalty kill since Jeff Halpern and Fredrik Modin joined the mix. In the four games since the trade deadline, the Kings are 13-for-14 on the penalty kill.

Penalty-kill ability was one reason specifically mentioned by Dean Lombardi when he talked about why he made the trades for Halpern and Modin. So far, it seems to be working out well, and Terry Murray talked about the advantages of having additional options on the penalty kill…

MURRAY: “I’m really happy that both of the players are good penalty killers. I knew that about Modin. I wasn’t real sure on where Halpern was on the penalty kill. Both are going to take some minutes, and they’re going to be important as we move through this. The intensity really heats up as you get to this time of the year, and Kopitar is a player, on a line, that I ask a lot of. If I can back off from those minutes that he puts in on the penalty kill, with Modin and Halpern, I think it’s going to be beneficial to his game.”