Practice 3/5 – Today’s Alignment, Lemieux Day-to-Day, Yawney on Last Night, Lineup Changes & LAKI Suite Night

Back at it, in Buffalo.

The Kings hit the ice earlier today in Buffalo, following last night’s victory over the Blue Jackets. As has been the MO as of late, not an extensively long practice, but one in which the team got what it needed on the ice.

Regarding the lineup, defensemen Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty and Matt Roy were not on the ice today, with it being deemed an “optional skate”. Those are the team’s three highest-minute defensemen and this week’s worth of practices have been as much about maintenance as anything else.

In terms of forward Brendan Lemieux, who left last night’s game with a lower-body injury, he was deemed “day-to-day” by Trent Yawney earlier today and did not participate in today’s practice. As noted above, Andreas Athanasiou took rushes in that spot, though Carl Grundstrom is also an option to come in.

Yesterday, the in-game injury led to more ice time for Alex Iafallo and Quinton Byfield, who took a number of rushes alongside Blake Lizotte and Arthur Kaliyev, in Lemieux’s spot. Yawney was happy with how they took on that extra ice time, indicating he thinks they were pretty happy with the extra opportunity, the extra minutes, and they ran with it. Remains to be seen how the Kings handle that spot tomorrow afternoon.

With that in mind, here’s how the team lined up earlier today at Harbor Center in Buffalo –

Anderson-Dolan – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Byfield – Brown
Athanasiou – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Grundstrom

Maatta – Moverare
Bjornfot – Durzi

Quick / Petersen

Kings in Columbus: An Oral History
Speaking with Trent Yawney today, he took us on more or less an oral history of the game last night.

He talked about what he liked early on, as the Kings played, well, LA Kings hockey, with an aggressive forecheck, turnovers forced, volume shooting, Grade-A chances and making life difficult on the opposition. He touched on what changed in the second period and what he’d like to see done differently following goals against. He talked about the comeback mentality and the character shown in the third period. And a few other things, mapped out in full below –

Trent Yawney on characteristics shown that let him know early the Kings were playing Kings hockey
Systematically, we were breaking out clean, we were getting pucks behind their defense and it was leading to some Grade-A scoring chances, [their goaltender] made some big, big saves in the first period that, early on, it could have been a different animal, and credit to him. In the second period, I thought we got away from our direct play, there were a lot of long chances in that period and that was a byproduct of us not being in unison, guys were going to the net but we weren’t getting the puck there. When it turned over, their D were free and they didn’t have to defend anything at their blue paint and they were in the rush and we were chasing it. There were a couple of changes that we have to tighten up, but when you go through these things and you get scored on, we have to get better in our response after a goal was scored. All oft hose things are easily fixed.

On what he wants to see after goals to reverse the current trend
Reestablish our forecheck, because that’s a strength of our team. It’s not always going to go in your favor, but both of those goals came off of our stick and if we’re just a little bit cleaner in those areas, maybe those goals don’t happen, but they do happen. The one went to a perennial goalscorer and he didn’t take long to put it where he wanted to put it and that happens. Overall, though, I thought the mentality of the group was really positive, they weren’t hanging their heads or anything like that. They were going to go out and win a game, which is what they did.

On any potential concern that chances were lopsided, but it was 0-0
I was a little bit concerned because of what they’ve been through over the last little bit, then those didn’t go in and now what’s going to happen. We just didn’t manage the puck as well in the second period, like we did in the first and you have to give them some credit too, they’re the third-highest scoring team since January, behind Toronto and Florida, for a reason and it showed. I thought, in the third, we got back to who we were at the start of the period, Brownie’s goal gave us some energy, and probably a stronger belief that was going to happen.

Lineup Changes Pay Off
Yesterday the coaching staff made somewhat major changes to the configuration of the forwards, with Jaret Anderson-Dolan checking in and Alex Iafallo moving to a line with Quinton Byfield and Dustin Brown.

Iafallo was put in with the purpose of stablizing that line, with his responsible defensive play, as well as his aggressive forechecking, something that Yawney felt he did successfully. The totals on that line weren’t bad at all, with Iafallo and Byfield getting extra ice time, as mentioned, due to the injury of Lemieux. When those two played with Brown, however, all three seemed to play pretty well as a trio.

“I thought that Iafallo, even though he didn’t wind up on the scoresheet, I thought he stabilized that line with his good defensive play,” Yawney said today. “That allowed Brownie to just play, they weren’t in their own zone a lot and I thought Q did some good things with getting pucks in behind their D, getting in on the forecheck. He was skating, which is a big aprt of his game. I thought Iafallo, just his ability to tame things down, was pretty evident.”

For his part, Iafallo said that there wasn’t much asked of him beyond playing his own game, but it’s his own game that was perhaps just what that line needed. The Kings don’t want Iafallo to play more than his game, because his game is simple, effective and productive. His defensive zone reads and ability to cover is excellent, while his puck retrieval and forechecking abilities are among the team’s best.

Those traits were evident last night.

“Just play my game, be a 200-foot player, be versatile, try to help those guys out and support them as much as I can,” Iafallo said. “Whether it’s forechecking, coming through the middle or breaking out faster. I’m just trying to be versatile and help everybody out.”

Looking ahead, Iafallo and Yawney both are hopeful to see some of that momentum continue. Getting that line on track has been a big priority of the Kings, with several different combinations utilized this season due to various reasons.

The pieces of that line are certainly there. Now, it’s about executing it, something Iafallo is looking forward to.

“Q’s been good for us all year, it was pretty fun being able to play with him, he’s fast and supportive as well, fast on the forecheck. Brownie had a big goal yesterday and he plays hard in all areas. It was good to play with those guys.”

LAKI Suite Night Returns!
Lastly, Insiders, many of you have inquired and now, with several COVID-based regulations lifted at Crypto.com Arena, we present the return of LAKI Suite Night!

More details to follow, but the plan is to get together on April 4 versus Calgary, a weekend game, with the Kings and Flames set to square off in a game with potential playoff implications. Cost will be $75 per person, and I am sorting out the best way to set up payment for that day. Will follow up with a more formal post to generate interest and start a list going, as well as the best way to set up payment for the event.

Hope to see many of you there for a fun night, and a meaningful April hockey game!

Kings and Sabres, tomorrow at 10 AM Pacific! Game Preview to follow in the AM.