New line seemed to fit Loktionov

With Mike Richards out of the lineup, Andrei Loktionov is getting a chance to shine. In third- and fourth-line roles, at times this season, Loktionov has looked a little tentative with the puck on his stick. The Kings moved Loktionov back to his natural position center — he started this season on left wing — largely because they wanted him to feel more comfortable playing and moving the puck in the middle of the ice. On Thursday, in a second-line role with wingers Simon Gagne and Justin Williams, Loktionov looked more comfortable and effective, Terry Murray said, and Loktionov will stay with that look tonight.

MURRAY: “I thought he played well. There’s still areas that I can see that, as he matures, where he will become a better hockey player, but his possession time was really good. He moved his feet. He was very good with composure on breakouts. He’s got some instincts that are hard to find. He’s going to be a good player. He got an opportunity (against Minnesota) to play with a couple pretty good hockey players, and I think he took advantage of it and had nice energy and had a smile on his face. It was a good thing. It’s coming.’’

Question: Do you have to encourage him, still, to take that puck and really carry it through the middle of the ice?

MURRAY: “That was the one thing, through the training camp, that I was looking for all of the time, in the practices and in the exhibition games, that just was not there. That was probably the reason we ended up getting him down to the minors as quickly as we did. The puck-possession play, the attack possession entries, it just wasn’t there for some reason. He looked a little distracted. He went down and he worked on his game. He’s back up here and I think he’s starting to grab a hold of that again.’’