Clifford goes fourth late in rookie season

As noted earlier, the Kings tonight will go with a fourth line of left winger Kyle Clifford, center Trevor Lewis and right winger Alexei Ponikarovsky. It’s interesting to take note of Clifford, who is now deep into his first NHL season at the very young age of 20. Clifford will play in his 60th game of the season. He played 58 in the Ontario Hockey League last season, and played as many as 70 games during his junior career, but clearly the NHL is at a whole different level than the NHL, in terms of the work and intensity required. Clifford, who has four goals and six assists, has moved around a bit, most typically alternating between the third and fourth lines, and Terry Murray said putting Clifford in a fourth-line spot right now can help prevent the young player from getting exposed a bit in tough, late-season games…

MURRAY: “I’ve always been a coach that played my top three lines more than my fourth line. When you’re on the fourth line, you’re still involved emotionally and mentally, but you’re not depended on to have to perform every shift. You can get that break. I can match him up differently than if he’s on the third line or second line. So, in doing that, I think he’s fresh, I think he’s strong, I think he’s hungry to keep playing and moving up, and he’s showing that to me every day.”

As for the fourth line in general, it will be interesting to see how Murray handles it down the stretch. Kevin Westgarth is the healthy scratch tonight, but Murray still has a strong tendency toward playing Westgarth in games in which he feels a more physical presence is needed. Today, I asked Murray if he planned to go with the Clifford-Lewis-Ponikarovsky look for a while, or if he would still manage the lineup on a game-to-game basis…

MURRAY: “It will be a game-to-game basis. I think Westie’s game has improved every week in this league. He’s adjusting to the speed and to the tempo. He has better reads. The change would happen on a game-to-game basis.”