Alex Iafallo Talks Return To Lineup + Quick Hitters From The Road Trip Opener

On his first shift, of his first game back from a long-term, lower-body injury that cost him 23 games, Alex Iafallo collected an assist. Though he downplayed his impact on the play after the game, Iafallo did what he needed to do and as usual, he did the little things well. He was the first player to a puck in the corner and settled things down before he found the open player, which happened to be a trailing Blake Lizotte. One pass later, Mikey Anderson ripped home a shot from the right-hand circle that put the Kings ahead by two goals just 2:15 into the game.

Not a bad way to announce his return to the LA Kings.

“I didn’t have to do much, Lizzo made a great play and a nice shot [from Mikey Anderson],” he said. “I just tried to be engaged right from the start and make plays from then on.”

Iafallo suffered his injury on October 17 in Detroit on a play that looked harmless to the naked eye, but a play that wound up costing him 49 days of time with the Kings. It’s now early-December and Iafallo has collected at least a point in every game he’s played this season. It’s only been five games – he was on a four-game point streak when his injury occurred. With the assist last night, that four has become a five.

Good signs for Iafallo, who impacts the game with more than just his offensive production. On a team that has lacked consistency and has been up and down when it comes to defensive stability, structure and the like, Iafallo excels in those areas. He contributes in a variety of different ways and that makes him valuable. It’s in those areas he focused on last night.

“I just try to play a 200-foot game, just trying to stay consistent and make good defensive plays, win wall battles and help push the team forward,” he added. “I’m just going to try and keep doing that and keep getting better every day.”

His head coach has been looking forward to his return and highlighted many of the same things.

Todd McLellan has referred to Iafallo as a “trusting” player, someone who can contribute in an array of ways, in an array of situations. While perhaps the skill elements of his game might take a little bit of time to shake off the rust, the hockey sense and positional awareness was there right off the bat.

“I think his play answered the question, but he’s just steady,” McLellan said. “He does a lot of little things and you could see early in the first period that he was ready to go. Sure, his legs and his hands probably don’t feel as good as he’d like them to, naturally, but his mind was sharp. He went to the right spots, real good sense of timing and I liked that line, I thought that line played really well.

While McLellan highlighted the hands and legs as areas that might not be exactly where he wants them, Iafallo talked about the difficulty of replicating certain situations during practice and rehab settings, things you can really only do in game situations.

You can do a base level of most things, but protecting the puck or truly battling against an opponent, rather than a teammate, requires true, game situations to work on. He got those last night.

“Probably just protecting the puck, physical battles on the wall,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t do much when you’re injured with stuff like that, so I had to stay mentally prepared for each situation.”

While he was out, Iafallo spoke about how much he missed playing with the team, being a part of games, practices, road trips and the off-the-ice time that comes with being a part of a hockey team.

It was hard for him to not be in those games, as he turned cheerleader while injured. Doesn’t ho

“It felt great [to be back]. I was watching all the time, it was hard to watch, you’re still cheering the boys on, but it’s definitely great to be back on the ice. I had fun out there.”

Good signs for him, good signs for the LA Kings.

Quick Hitters
Cop That Win
A tip of the cop……..cap to Pheonix Copley, who was exactly what the LA Kings needed him to be last night. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Kings were not in need of a savior in net. They were in need of a solid performance, from a player who made the saves you needed him to make. Copley did exactly that, plus one outstanding stop with the blade of his right skate that prevented Ottawa from pulling to within two goals in the third period. On Claude Giroux nonetheless.

Pheonix Copley on his big save in the third period –

"Yeah, it was kind of a broken play and it ended up where the guy had an open net. I just tried to push over and get whatever I could in front of it. Fortunately, it hit the blade of my skate, sometimes you get lucky I guess."

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 7, 2022

The 30-year-old netminder made 29 saves on 31 shots to secure the victory, which was his first at the NHL level since March 2019, when he rattled off the sixth of six consecutive wins as a member of the Washington Capitals, including two over the Kings along the way. There was a feeling of calmness that was associated with Copley’s game, with McLellan noting it was apparent he had played at this level before, which he had to the tune of 31 games with Washington and St. Louis.

With a win under his belt, Copley has now shown that he can perform with this team and that’s a great sign. We don’t know the timeline for goaltender Cal Petersen, who has been the first or second star in both of his starts with AHL-Ontario. Petersen is 2-0-0 in that span, with a .947 save percentage and a 1.51 goals-against average. How the Kings opt to deploy those individuals moving forward is out of Copley’s control. He’s taking things by the day and doing what he can to impact success when he has the opportunity.

“Exactly that, I’m just taking it day-by-day and doing everything I can to help this team win when I get the chance.”

DMen Doing That Offense
The Kings got two goals and five points from their defensemen last night, with four of the team’s six blueliners getting on the scoresheet. Mikey Anderson and Matt Roy each showed excellent offensive instincts on their goals, while defenseman Sean Durzi and Drew Doughty each contributed assists, two in Durzi’s case. For two players who are known for their play at the other end, Roy’s production is up (.43 points-per-game, from .31) and Anderson is showing more and more of a willingness to activate offensively and contribute at that end of the rink.

Overall this season, the Kings rank tied for second in the NHL in points by defensemen with 66, including 12 goals. A season ago, Kings blueliners scored 21 goals combined over the course of 82 games. With 28 games now gone by, the Kings already have 12 goals from their backend, putting them 57 percent of the way to last season’s total with 54 games remaining. Last season’s total, however, was the lowest in the NHL, so perhaps the bar is a bit higher.

General Manager Rob Blake discussed the desire for more offensive contributions from the blueline and while it hasn’t always come without the expense of defendive play as a team, last night was a prime example that it can. Good signs all around on night one of this trip, hopefully providing an opportunity to build on moving forward.

Attacking The Atlantic
One stat to leave you with – The Kings improved to 6-0-1 against the Atlantic Division this season and 18-3-2 against the Atlantic Division over the last two seasons. If you want to date back before the pandemic, the Kings have won 20 of their last 25 games versus Atlantic opposition.

Certainly a stat like that is more of a fun one to talk about than an actual sign of something to build off of, or rely upon. But hey, with five of their next six games against Atlantic Division opposition, the Kings will hope to see the trend continue.

Practice Day today, Insiders, from Ford Performance Center in Etobicoke, Ontario. We’ll take a look at last night’s nice performance from the nice line, as well as a couple of other notables from the skate. Until then!