On the comeback trail

Justin Williams took a step forward, in terms of minutes played, in his second game back from his broken leg. In his first game, Friday at Dallas, Williams played 12 minutes, 15 seconds. On Sunday against Nashville, he played 15:18. In the two games, combined, Williams has zero points, a minus-1 rating and four shots on goal, back in his first-line role with Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth. Here’s what Terry Murray had to say today about Williams’ play…

MURRAY: “Not bad, not bad. I think, with the severity of the injury that he went through, to come back and be playing at this time, first of all is pretty amazing to me. To get out on the ice, with the emotional side of the game, without hesitancy, without any fear, without any kind of reluctance to play the game in those tight situations, is pretty impressive to me. It will take some time, some games, to get that flow back, to get a little bit of the rust off, to hopefully get that chemistry back that they had at the start of the year.

“But I’m going to work through it and stay with it. I think, with the few number of games that are left, it might take the majority of those in order for him to start to feel the way he was coming out of training camp. Overall, I was very impressed with his effort and his conditioning. He gets a little short with his breath there sometimes, when he gets extended on some shifts, but everything is moving forward.”