Given transition, Kings ready for unique challenge

Having fired Paul McLean – the 2013 Jack Adams Award winner – on Monday, the Ottawa Senators have had three full days to prepare for tonight’s game against the Kings, their first outing under new head coach Dave Cameron. Cameron, who has ample experience as a head coach in the AHL and served as both a general manager and a coach in the OHL, coached Canada to a silver medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships and was hired by Ottawa in 2011-12 to serve as an assistant coach under MacLean.

Coincidentally, the Kings were also in Ottawa on February 3, 2009, and won a 1-0 road game behind a Michal Handzus goal and 29 Jonathan Quick saves in Cory Clouston’s first game as the Senators’ head coach following Craig Hartsburg’s dismissal.

A mid-season coaching transition often allows teams to hit that oft-referenced “reset button,” and it’s not a surprise to see teams take the ice with a greater intensity and purpose, as several Kings noted.

“I know when we went through that here, you want to come out and show that you’re willing to take responsibility for your play as players,” Matt Greene said. “And you want to be able to right the ship. What’s expected is a lot of emotion, a lot of energy from those guys.”

As for any more substantial evolution in the team’s direction, “sometimes there’s an effect right away and sometimes there isn’t an effect,” Darryl Sutter said. “Sometimes it takes a year, and sometimes it takes a couple games.”

The Kings are looking inward, not outward, and know that they have to solidify their own game.

“It’s a big game,” Tyler Toffoli said. “We need to get some points here, get on a little roll and get playing the right way. I think we had glimpses in Buffalo, but we’ve got to be better. We have to score some goals and play better hockey.”

Matt Greene, on the environment following Los Angeles’ 2011 coaching change:
It’s different. You kind of hit pause for a second and try to figure out what’s going on. What Dean did a good job for us was making sure that everyone was looking themselves in the mirror and realizing that – I can’t speak for anybody else’s case but definitely in our case – it was our fault that we were in the situation we were and it’s up to us to get out of it.

Greene, on whether there is anything he took away from the Buffalo game:
Start the game the way we finished it. Play with that urgency for a full 60.

Tyler Toffoli, on Ottawa playing their first game with a new head coach:
They’re going to be excited. I played against their coach in juniors. He’s really hard and he’s going to be expecting the guys to be working hard. We have to make sure we come out and play right from the drop of the puck.

Darryl Sutter, on his “advice” to someone coaching their first NHL game:
Enjoy it. It’s just like a young player. Dave’s not a first coach in that. He’s been coaching this year, and it’s no different than a young player. It goes by pretty fast.