Oscar Moller left the San Jose practice rink yesterday thinking he would be a spectator for Game 2. Even this morning, Moller didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he found out soon enough. The Kings’ plan to call up John Zeiler from the AHL got scuttled because of a waivers issue, so the Kings will turn to Moller tonight in Game 2 as their fourth-line center. It’s a return-to-roots situation for Moller, who was drafted as a center but who got turned into a full-time winger last season. Now, after 87 regular-season games over the past three seasons, Moller will get to make his NHL playoff debut.
MOLLER: “I’m pretty excited about that, my first playoff game. It will be fun, obviously. I’m going to bring my `A’ game, for sure. I’ll just get some rest and be ready to go here.”
Question: Watching is obviously different than playing, but did you learn anything from just watching Game 1?
MOLLER: “You try to see what they’re trying to do in certain situations, and what we do good and what we can do better. I tried to watch a lot of the power play, and their penalty kill, to see how they play. We’ll talk a little bit about the power play in the morning here and get ready to go for tonight.”
Question: And a little more intensity out there, probably…
MOLLER: “For sure. There’s a lot of body contact and stuff, and it’s fun to play that way. I think I get into the game more if I play like that.”
Also, here’s what Terry Murray said today about putting Moller in the lineup…
MURRAY: “Oscar is a good player. He’s more of a winger than he is a center iceman, but he has played at center before. He can handle the puck. He’s got great vision. He’s got good hands. He can make some plays. We’ll use him on the power play. We’re just going to have to make sure that we’re not getting him matched up against a couple of their big guys. If that’s what the look is, we’ll have to get him off the ice right away. But he can play the game. He’s a very capable player.”
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