Richardson moving up

After a 1 2/3-stint on the fourth line, Brad Richardson is back on the Kings’ second line, this time centering Alexander Frolov and Dustin Brown. Terry Murray made the flip — sending Jarret Stoll to the fourth line — at the start of the third period Sunday, and it seems as though the move was more of a reward for Richardson than a punishment for Stoll. Other than his ill-advised pass in overtime against Chicago last week, it’s been hard to find too many flaws in Richardson’s game. Here’s what Terry Murray said today about the move, followed by Richardson’s thoughts…

MURRAY: “I ended up with that against Nashville. They go right out and they score a goal. Brownie gets his goal on that next shift. I thought a lot of that was a credit to Richardson and his speed. He was on top of the puck. He was creating some turnovers, so I stayed with it the rest of that period, the rest of the game. I liked it. I liked the way they kind of picked up their tempo, their intensity, and pushed the comfort level of their [Nashville] defensemen to create those turnovers and make some plays in the offensive zone. So I’ll stay with here, for another couple days, and see how it goes.”

Here’s Richardson, on his thoughts about playing center vs. wing…

RICHARDSON: “There’s definitely more skating at center. Your responsibility in the defensive zone is as a tracker, going back. Usually it’s the center going back and battling and getting the puck. You have to be the guy who gets the puck in the middle of the ice and be able to distribute it where they want. It’s definitely more skating, but that’s one part of my game I don’t mind doing, is skating.”

(on his pairing with Dustin Brown, which had some success earlier this season…)
RICHARDSON: “Brownie is pretty easy to play with. You know what he’s going to do. He’s high-energy, he’s hitting everything and he’s going to the net hard. He’s a pretty easy guy to read off, because I kind of know what he’s going to do. We’re both kind of trying to do the same things, get in there and finish checks. He obviously finishes more checks, and a little harder too, but he’s a great guy to play with. You know, if you get him the puck, he’s going to shoot it toward the net, so any time he’s got it, you want to get to the net.”

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