1/30 Practice – Last One Before The Break + The Mental Fatigue, PK Improvements, Clarke’s Numbers

Final practice before the All-Star break, Insiders!

The LA Kings gathered at the Ice Sports Forum in Tampa for an AM skate before the group took off for Raleigh, which is the final stop of the trip. A good practice today in the eyes of Head Coach Todd McLellan, with a couple of focal points to prepare for the final test before the break in Carolina.

As for the practice itself, not a ton of line stuff that I could see, but also nothing that looked different than what we’ve seen so far on this trip. Everyone who is here in Florida participated, diagramed below –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Iafallo – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Anderson-Dolan
Lemieux – Kupari – Turcotte – Fagemo

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker – Bjornfot

Copley / Quick

As it relates to tomorrow’s lineup, decisions likely will come down to the players on the backend, with Alex Edler (3) and Tobias Bjornfot (2) rotating thus far on the trip, and on the fourth line, where Alex Turcotte (3) and Brendan Lemieux (2) have split games. Not to say it’ll be specfiically between those individuals, though, with the Kings coming off a three-goal defeat and at the end of a trip. More to come on that front in the morning.

The Kings are not expecting any players back for tomorrow’s game, as has been noted, and McLellan shared this morning that Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore have resumed skating back in California. We’ll see……Moore……of an update when the team reconvenes after the break on those two, plus forwards Carl Grundstrom and Gabriel Vilardi, who are also currently out.

Notes –
End Of The Road
It’s been a long trip, Insiders. A long trip.

Today is Day 11, with the final day coming up tomorrow as the Kings faceoff against the Hurricanes, leading into a ten-day break for most. It’s worth noting the length of the trip, worth noting the fatigue that settles in as you reach this junction of a trip, but also worth noting that you don’t get spotted goals or points in the standings for fatigue. The Kings square off with one of the best teams in the NHL tomorrow evening and have two points on the line in doing so. Getting a result in Raleigh would signal a winning trip – a point of any kind puts the Kings over .500 for the trip as a whole. With a ten-day break coming up following the game, an important one for the Kings to hunker down and play, with the aim of finishing strong before the break.

“I think being tired right now is mental more than physical, we’ve had some days off,” McLellan said this morning. “Tampa Bay, in the third period, you should be tired, back-to-back in Chicago, you should be tired, but right now, we’ve had a great day yesterday, everybody was resting in the sun, doing the things that they do and we had a good practice today. The part that worries me a little bit more than the length of the road trip is the fact that it’s the last game before a long break, but every team worries about that, every team’s coaching staff is a little bit concerned about whether players are fully engaged or if they’re already thinking about plans.”

You never know how important the two points in Carolina could turn out to be. Could they be the difference between making and missing the playoffs, or the difference between a wild card spot and a divisional spot, or perhaps home ice versus starting a series on the road? You never know exactly which two points you might look back upon with regret if there are any issues. No need to make it the two before the All-Star break.

“We’ll talk to the players tomorrow about the importance of these points,” he added. “They could be the two that decide something for us and you can’t have regrets so we expect everybody to be fully engaged, but there always is that concern.”

In this position last season, the Kings fought their way to a 5-3 victory over Detroit. Not perfect, but they got the job done. Different opponent, with Carolina currently a division leader, but the Kings are in that mix as well. A good test, and a good opportunity, tomorrow.

Penalty Kill Performance
The LA Kings have allowed just one power-play goal thus far on the road trip, which came in the third period of the first game in Nashville. The Kings have been shorthanded 12 times in the four games since and have killed off all 12 of the power plays against them, including two last time out versus the Lightning, a positive from the 5-2 defeat. There was just one full power play for Tampa Bay in that game, but the Kings gave the NHL’s second-best power play unit a ton of trouble, preventing zone entries and pressuring aggressively. When tested vastly more frequently the night before against the Panthers, the Kings stood up again with a strong effort.

“About 15 games ago, we addressed the penalty kill and we put a lot of time and energy into to working on it,” McLellan said. “We use the words pressure and principles and we see that being applied a little more consistently than it was before. I think the faceoff numbers have gone up, the clearing attempt numbers have gone up and the save percentage has gone up. So, when all of those things happen, your confidence goes up, you feel better about yourself and you get the job done more often than not.”

We’re hearing the same words used by the players as well.

I remember vividly hearing the words pressure and principle from defenseman Mikey Anderson a couple weeks ago, when the Kings first started to turn around their penalty kill unit. I couldn’t recall, at that time, having heard it previously from Todd McLellan, but I’ve now heard it a couple of times since, both from McLellan and from others who are a part of that unit. The Kings have noticeably amped up the pressure coming from their penalty killers and they’ve noticeably improved upon their clears, their breakups and as McLellan noted above, their faceoffs.

Phillip Danault – I think we’re putting more pressure on all together, we’re blocking more shots. Our goalies are really good too, it’s just being more being dedicated. Sometimes, we got some weird bounces, but we’re more predictable and we’re more on the same page.

Adrian Kempe – I think we’ve been way more aggressive in the zone and not just when they have the puck, but after shots, when they’re not sure where we are, we’ve been a lot better with that. Clears off of faceoffs have been really good, we’ve got to keep working on our strengths too, keep being more aggressive, it takes away time and space.

Carolina is not the high-ranking PP unit the Kings saw in Tampa Bay, but with a wealth of skilled players, they present. adifficult challenge nonetheless.

Brandt Clarke Performance
Lastly, Insiders, a note on the offensive production from defenseman Brandt Clarke, since he’s returned to the OHL but especially over the last few games.

Clarke has collected a point in eight of his nine OHL games this season. He’s scored a goal in three straight games and has four consecutive multi-point games. Clarke led the way with a hat trick last night in a 4-1 win over Saginaw, which followed a two-goal performance the day before against Flint. Clarke has been back in the OHL for nine games now and has ten goals and ten assists for 20 points. Clarke’s 10 goals are tied for the eighth most in the OHL amongst defensemen. Among the players ahead of him, each has played a minimum of 34 games this season.

That’s a lot of short sentences to describe the dynamic level of play he’s brought since he’s re-joined the Colts. Again, Clarke has played NINE. Staggering production at that level.

The Colts have won six of nine games since Clarke returned following the World Juniors and sit comfortably in the third seed in the Eastern Conference. They appear primed for home-ice advantage in the first round and are still in the mix to host a series in the second round and beyond as well.

General Manager Rob Blake shared that Clarke would return to either the Kings or the Reign at the conclusion of his OHL season, should either team still be in the postseason when that time comes. The OHL’s postseason is scheduled to begin on March 29, so it’ll likely be around one round ahead of the NHL and AHL. Something worth at least a wandering eye on as the season progresses.

Morning skate to follow tomorrow, Insiders, before our content focus shifts to Kevin Fiala attending the NHL All-Star Classic and a look ahead to Dustin Brown’s jersey retirement night on February 11, the next Kings home game. Lots to come on both fronts here over the next couple of weeks, but it’s full sights ahead on tomorrow evening in Carolina until that game ends.

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