Murray talks about lineup changes

The Kings’ second and third lines get another shakeup tonight, as Jarret Stoll centers Kyle Clifford and Trent Hunter while Colin Fraser centers Ethan Moreau and Trevor Lewis. That leaves Brad Richardson and Kevin Westgarth as the healthy scratches, and while that’s not particularly new in terms of Westgarth, it will be the first time this season that Richardson is not in the lineup. Terry Murray talked this morning about his decision…

MURRAY: “Quite simply, we’re looking to get some scoring going here, get some depth. Hunter is a guy who, historically, has provided some scoring in the league. He’s got a heavy shot. He can give us second and third opportunities just by getting the puck on net with that heavy shot of his. We hope that we can recover some of those loose pucks and that good things will happen.’’

But why Richardson? He has zero goals and one assist in 15 games, certainly comparable — numbers-wise — to Lewis (zero points) and Moreau (one point), although they bring different things to the game…

MURRAY: “You have to make a decision on who goes in, and how you’re going to give these new players an opportunity to play in the game. So, it does come down to some numbers. There are other reasons that fall in place. I’m looking, again, for the offensive part of the game to get picked up, and Hunter is a player who has put numbers up, in his game, in the NHL. Brad, right now, is not finding the back of the net. It’s been quite a few games since he has scored. He’s bringing everything else that we want. He’s intense, he’s enthusiastic, he brings pressure to the puck, he recovers pucks. He’s giving us good penalty-killing. So there’s a lot of things that I like about Brad Richardson’s game to date, and the time that he’s been here. It’s just the need for some offense right now, some 5-on-5 scoring is critical, and we’ve got to get that depth in the scoring and not rely on the Kopitar line consistently.’’