5/1 Practice Notes – Today’s Alignment + Preparation, Defending the Best, Comfort Level in Close Games

Good Afternoon, Insiders!

The Kings were back on the ice this morning at home, before their mid-day flight off to Edmonton. It’s just about that time for the Kings, with preparation over the last two days setting the stage for the Oilers and today’s practice is the final one as a full group before they take the ice at Rogers Place tomorrow.

With that in mind, here’s how the Kings lined up this morning during practice at Toyota Sports Performance Center –

Athanasiou – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Iafallo
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Brown
Lemieux – Byfield – Kaliyev
Andersson – Vilardi – Kupari

Edler – Roy
Anderson – Durzi
Maatta – Spence
Moverare – Stecher
Bjornfot – Strand

Quick / Petersen

Forward Viktor Arvidsson was not on the ice today, with Todd McLellan deeming his absence to be “personal” and not injury-related. Arvidsson left yesterday’s practice midway through and did not return today, with the Kings shuffling the lines today accordingly. Today’s skate saw Alex Iafallo step onto the second line with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, while Carl Grundstrom bumped up to fill Iafallo’s spot alongside Blake Lizotte and Dustin Brown. That condensed the four-person, fourth line to three individuals with Brendan Lemieux, Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev skating together. The “fifth line” of players in purple jerseys remained as Gabe Vilardi with Rasmus Kupari and Lias Andersson.

Notes –

Playoff Preparation
“In the regular season, we know what the schedule looks like and we’re always in the moment, but someone is getting ahead, because we just don’t have enough time. Now, we don’t have to get ahead. We hope that we will later on, 10 days from now, but right now, we’re just one team, one set of preparations, not getting ahead of ourselves. The prep is a little bit more in-depth, we really don’t have that much time either, normally it feels like there’s a bigger break between regular season and playoffs, and yet I think it’s good for our team. A couple of practices, go and play a game.”

That was from Head Coach Todd McLellan on the thought process behind the differences of preparing for a playoff series, versus a stretch on the regular-season schedule. Typically, barring a few select circumstances, the regular-season slate features a different opponent each night, sometimes on back-to-back days. In those situations, the Kings naturally can’t put everything into one game and leave themselves unprepared, so at the very least, someone on the staff has to be looking ahead. Now, with a minimum of four straight games coming up against the Oilers, there’s no need for that part of the process.

“Yeah, it’s just little details, you can tell that there’s an excitement here and everyone is just ready to go,” defenseman Matt Roy added today. “It’s the little things that we need to take care of. I think the difference is the fact that we’re going to be playing [Edmonton] so many times in a row. We can focus more on that one team and I think it’s going to be an intense series for sure.”

Without sharing too much about what that preparation entails – we are just over 24 hours away from a playoff series after all – the Kings seem pretty unified on the challenges facing them against the Oilers, with that preparation playing a part in the process. Their high-end, elite, offensive players and prowess on special teams present a challenge for sure, and the Kings struggles on special teams are not a new storyline. Speaking with two members of the team’s top line, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, both players recognized those challenges.

Kempe – Stay on the right side of some of those players is key, especially when we’re in the o-zone, we know we have to stay above McDavid when he’s skating, avoid 2-on-1’s and stuff like that, we’ve got to stay above him. Special teams are going to be huge, obviously they have a good power play and we have to keep penalty minutes down for us to have a good chance. Play the way we can, frustrate them and if we can stay out of the box, I think it’ll be a good match for us.

Kopitar – I think that’s pretty obvious, obviously those two players, McDavid and Draisaitl, you have to shut them down, or at least as much as we can. Whenever you’re playing against those guys, special teams are also very important.

Defending Against The Best
On that note, several members of the Kings have touched on the challenge ahead of them when defending the Oilers, specifically the duo of McDavid and Draisaitl. It would not be breaking news to write here that the Oilers have some highly-talented players, including that pair, two of the most gifted forwards in the National Hockey League.

Edmonton has the ability to score throughout their lineup and in all situations. They’re in the NHL’s Top 5 in both power-play goals and shorthanded goals this season, all a part of a formula that has them as the league’s seventh-highest scoring team during the regular season.

A massive part of that equation is naturally the existence of McDavid and Draisaitl, two of the four highest-scoring players across the NHL this season. McDavid led the league with 123 points, while Draisaitl was the only player with 50+ goals and 50+ assists this season. Draisaitl is the only player to achieve that feat since Evgeni Malkin in 2011-12, and he’s done so twice in that span (also 2018-19). Two of the game’s elite, that the Kings are looking forward to the challenge of playing against.

Roy – Definitely, I think that every player wants to play against the best and prove themselves. You just try to come in every night with the right mindset and be confident in ourselves and I think that’s what we’ve done. You need to be ready, because if you’re not ready to go, then they’re going to take advantage of you. Like I said, we’re excited to play in this round.

Moore – Yeah, I think that’s a huge challenge, but a huge opportunity at the same time. Phil has done it, like he did it all of last year, playing against some of the top players in the league. Knowing that I have that confidence in him, and I’m going to hold my own weight and that Arvy is going to do the same.

Durzi – We believe in our group and we believe in each other. We may be young, but we do have some veteran experience back there and I think, on our team, we have some experience that should help us. It’s nice having Drew around, for that guidance and leadership, and it’s about believing in each other. Worry about what we can do, worry about believing in each other and working well with each other, do the best we can.

Durzi’s quote references the presence of Doughty, who is around the team from a leadership perspective, but naturally is not on the ice in any sort of playing capacity, following his season-ending wrist surgery. Without their leader on the backend, who you know would be up for the task of defending those players, the Kings know their task at hand beginning tomorrow night. From the quotes above, it’s a task they’re looking forward to approaching.

Team In Tight, One-Goal Games
Among postseason teams, only the Dallas Stars played in more one-goal games this season than the LA Kings did. The Kings saw 38 of their 82 games decided by a single goal during the regular season, while the Oilers were towards the bottom of the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs at 27. Edmonton also has 32 wins by multiple goals compared to 25 for the Kings, and that’s indicative of their style of play and high-octane offensive abilities.

As we all know, however, things can tighten up come the postseason, with games frequently featuring tighter-checking hockey and harder to play in scenarios. While a good portion of this team has never played a playoff game, what the group is, is familiar and comfortable in one-goal games this season.

Kopitar – Yeah, I think so. Over the last month, maybe two, I think we’ve shown that we’re pretty comfortable playing in very tight games. We’ve won some of those low-scoring games, 2-1, 3-2, and that’s what usually happens in the playoffs.

Roy – I think the more games that you play in, the more comfortable you get. I think that every game is different and the playoffs are going to be heightened a little bit. We just have to take it as it comes and be ready for whatever comes at us.

Moore – Yeah, hopefully that helps. Being able to win in a lot of different kinds of ways and not getting rattled when it’s a one-goal game, not getting nervous. Hopefully that helps us now [in the postseason].

The Kings have been in those types of scenarios in the regular season and are now set to potentially face them in the playoffs. In the four games against Edmonton during the regular season, one went to overtime and one was a one-goal Oilers win. The other two matchups were one-goal games entering the final six minutes of regulation.

We can’t predict what Game 1 will look like, we can’t predict what the scores and style of play will be. But, should the Kings find themselves with a one-goal lead in the third period, or trailing by one down the stretch, they should feel right at home in those situations.

Alright Insiders – We’re en route to Alberta as we speak, with the first game of the postseason on tap in just over a day’s time. We’ll have more to come between now and then, including a look at the varying degrees of playoff experience the Kings have on their roster, as well as full coverage from tomorrow’s morning skate in Edmonton!