Quick Monday morning Rookie Camp notes

Good morning from Toyota Sports Center, where the morning session on the fourth day of rookie camp is drawing to a close. After the rookies ended Sunday’s session with a scrimmage that included five-on-five, four-on-four and three-on-three work, the prospects were back on the ice this morning for continued instruction.

In the nine o’clock hour, Joel Lowry skated with the goaltenders and the development staff; Lowry is coming off back surgery and has been wearing an off-color non-contact jersey throughout camp. Alec Dillon was also on the ice for the early morning skate, though he did not remain on after the ice was resurfaced. I’m told that today is a minor maintenance day for Dillon; Patrik Bartosak, Jack Flinn and Nick McBride were the goaltenders on the ice for the 10:00 a.m. practice.

Bartosak made the best save of the morning during the 9:00 on-ice session, lunging with his stick to deny a sure goal from Legends Night honoree Mike Donnelly, who was known in his NHL tenure for using his speed down the wings. He batted the puck out of the air after Donnelly had cut in front of the crease and snapped off a quick shot; he drew stick taps and acknowledgement from all corners of the ice and even gave a fist pump in the air after making the fine save.

When the team reconvened at 10:00, there was breakout work and some flow drills, and the team even took part in some special teams work in advance of rookie games Tuesday (6:00 p.m.) and Wednesday (2:00 p.m.) against Arizona.

At even strength, the Kings rookies lined up thusly:

Yellow: Kempe-Horvat-Auger
White: Mistele-Amadio-Brodzinski
Purple: Zykov-Marchment-Raine
Grey: Wagner-Comrie-Watson
Red: Laberge-Arnold-Schmalz

Lowry also took a shift or two in Schmalz’s place during breakout drills early in the 10:00 session. The defensive pairings have been Leslie-Ebert, Lintuniemi-MacDermid, Middleton-Cernak and Redekopp-Walsh.