Forechecking, forechecking, forechecking

Given that the Kings went 2-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, they were, not surprisingly, pretty pleased with their special-teams effort. Five-on-five, though, was a different story, as the Kings were outshot 34-23 at even strength and, in particular, had problems in a third period in which they recorded only two shots on goal.

In that third period, the Kings got away from forechecking, and had very little offensive-zone time when they were able to work the puck out of their own end. Today, Terry Murray and a few players talked about forechecking and the need to improve in Game 2…

MURRAY: “If you’re going to get a good forecheck going, you have to get the puck stopped in the offensive zone, and that’s where we are inconsistent. I think the Canuck defensemen went back and they were able to absorb the hit. They got the puck going on a hard-around or used their D partner and got it going very quickly, and pretty consistently, last night. So we have to get a better focus on getting in, getting our sticks on the puck and trying to get it stopped.”

KOPITAR: “I think we’ve just got to have strong decisions through the neutral zone, and get it on the forecheck and create chances off that. I think forechecking and the cycle game, those are two strengths of our game, and we’ve got to exploit them as much as we can and create scoring chances off that and just put more pucks to the net. … We’ve got to get our forecheck game going. It’s a big part, and obviously that’s a big part of the 5-on-5 game. We certainly have to address that, and I think we’ll be better in that part tomorrow.”

BROWN: “Our forechecking has to be a lot better. That’s where our game is, and we didn’t get in on their defensemen and we didn’t get the puck stopped up enough in Game 1. That and having a net presence on Luongo, getting guys around the net and scoring ugly goals. That’s all a result of having a good forecheck.”

O’DONNELL: “I think that’s what it is. Our power play was pretty sharp last night, and 5-on-5, our big thing is that we want to have zone time. We feel like if we can play in there, we have a good cycling team and we can try to wear down their defense, but the important thing is that when you’re cycling down there, you’re not giving them any chances. The longer the puck is in their end, your chances of scoring are a lot better, so we need to get back to that. That’s kind of our bread and butter, and we got away from that a little last night.”