Energy line leads the way for Kings

Who saw this coming? In the regular season, forward Kyle Clifford, Brad Richardson and Wayne Simmonds combined for 63 points points. None of them had more than 14 goals or 30 points (Simmonds had both). Now, through the first five games of these playoffs, Clifford and Richardson are point-per-game performers and Simmonds isn’t far behind. Clifford leads the Kings with three goals and is tied with Clifford for the team lead with five points. Simmonds has one goal and two assists. Considering that the line was put together fairly late in the regular season, and mostly for a spark of energy, it’s fair to say that few people expected this type of scoring from the young trio. Terry Murray, though, will gladly take the production and strong two-way play.

MURRAY: “They’ve played very well. That group, whenever they were together earlier in the year, they like to play for each other. The fact that you’re looking at a young player [Clifford], a rookie putting some pucks into the back of the net, it really doesn’t surprise me. It has happened in the history of the game. And you have a player doing it who plays that hard game. He goes to the areas that you have to go to, to play at this time of year. There’s no reluctance, no hesitation in physical contact in paying a price in order to recover pucks. You get rewarded for that attitude.”