Important week for Kings, who don’t play until Thursday

The Kings have hit one of their breaks in the schedule and won’t play again until Thursday, when the New York Rangers come to town to rekindle a rivalry heightened by last year’s Stanley Cup Finals.

“Last year is last year,” Jarret Stoll said. “I understand there are going to be articles written or people talking about it, but we need two points. They’re a different team. We’re a different team this year. We need to focus on getting two points at home and start our home stand off the way we want.”

In the effort to secure two points on Thursday, Los Angeles will operate with a particular push during these three practice days. According to Darryl Sutter, the team is looking to refine “the structure of our game.”

“System-wise, in particular, some of our younger players who really lose their detail, and when you have that four-day break at Christmas and this four-day break, and then six coming up, you’re not seeing it ‘three days.’ You’re not calling it that,” Sutter said earlier today. “You’re going to get one good system day in, and that was today. Then, you’ve got to get going into games again.”

That one “system day” was perhaps the team’s longest in-season practice. Five-on-five play, special teams play, work with goaltenders and skill development all factored into the skate, which extended past one hour.

“It was good. The boys needed it,” Jake Muzzin said. “A little work and get the juices going back again and get ready for Thursday.

Earlier today, I spoke with Stoll and Muzzin about the importance of the upcoming week and the impact left by the combined 13 goals in the Nashville game.

Jarret Stoll, on the benefits of three straight practice days:
Well, we don’t play until Thursday. I don’t think a 30-minute practice today would’ve been good for us, to be honest. I think we needed a good work day and we got it. We’re going to have a little rest tomorrow and come back and have a great practice on Wednesday and a great pregame skate on Thursday. I think it was well needed to get some one-on-one, some two-on-two, some three-on-three, some neutral zone stuff and get a good little bagger in there at the end too. It was good.

Stoll, on how far away the team is from where it should be:
Kind of a tough question. In some areas, I think we’ve got a lot of things to work on. In some areas, we’re close. We’re not going to win games 7-6. We’re going to win games like you guys all know – 3-1, 2-1, 3-2. It all comes from our defensive side of things. From our goaltender on out, working together as a five-man group. We’re a little inconsistent that way, we know that. Our road record, we know that you’re probably not going to make the playoffs if you don’t improve your road record. But that being said, what’s right in front of us is a huge home stand. … So a huge part of our season to get some points, especially at home. Go from there.

Stoll, on whether there is any specific thing that can lead to more consistency:
It’s not anything specific. It’s just communication. It’s reads. Little break downs here or there. Teams are good, players are good. They’re going to make you pay as we do when teams make mistakes against us. Just eliminating those little instances where we’re not all on the same page. When we’re a five-man group in our zone, with Quickie or Joner, a six-man group breaking out of our zone, I think where we struggle in games, especially a lot of our first periods, we’re struggling in our own zone to get the puck moved, to get the puck going north. I think that’s one of the main areas we need to work on as a group is moving the puck quickly from our goaltender to our defense to our forwards. We’re good at that. We know we’re good at that. We’ve just got to consistently do that and then obviously know where we’re going to be playing in the offensive zone.

Muzzin, on what he took away from the Nashville game:
I looked back at it and saw some of the bounces. We obviously can’t blame it on bounces and stuff like that, but we have to be harder on guys and try to eliminate those chances that a bounce or something might go their way. I look at it and take away some of the stuff. We’ve got to be harder on the rush. It’s kind of a weird game to be a part of. I thought we had a lot of bounces too where shots went in and deflected in. Every goal was kind of a deflection or something like that. So it’s kind of one of those games where stuff was going in. Obviously it’s not the kind of game we want to play.

Muzzin, on the Nashville game being an example of the team’s resilience.
There is always a lot of that when you have a lot of the same guys you have still here. There is always that belief that we can come back, whether we score three goals in under two minutes, which is kind of crazy to think about, but we just know we have it in this room. We’ve just got to get back to playing LA Kings hockey.

Muzzin, on whether he has given any thought who the Kings play on Thursday:
I saw that on TV actually the other day that we’re playing the Rangers. Prepare, get ready to go out and win that game. That’s about it.