Practice 1/14 – Kings Prepare For Carolina, Seek “Attacking” Mentality From Entire Lineup

Last practice of the road trip, Insiders.

To use a phrase that the players and coaches have over these last few games, the Kings are in one right now. It’s most difficult stretch of the season, the most difficult stretch of the last few seasons.

The last time the Kings lost eight-or-more games was February of 2019. I think I used this reference a few days ago, but that was not a good team. This team certainly can be and has been. Right now, it’s not going their way and they’ve got to find a way through it.

For today’s skate, the Kings got their work in at PNC Arena in Carolina.

There’s really not all that much you can do on a practice day like this one, in terms of working through things. Though there are certainly areas the Kings want to touch on, it’s also the day between games in a three-in-four, which concludes a six-game roadtrip. Practice time is important, but so is body management and rest. Today’s work came mostly in the video room, followed by a flush out on the ice.

“You’ve heard me use the word clean out here throughout the season, a flush,” Todd McLellan said of today’s practice “A lot of travel for us over the last couple of days, a lot of games coming up. As much as we’d like to do to grind and really work on things, it’s not productive considering we’re playing at three o’clock tomorrow then back-to-back.”

McLellan added that the real “practice” came via the video session the Kings held before they skated, noting the group went through some situational clips heading into tomorrow’s game against the Hurricanes.

As far as today’s skate, the Kings had the following alignment during today’s practice –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Laferriere – Dubois – Anderson-Dolan
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis – Kaliyev

The defensemen didn’t necessarily take defined rushes today, with the seven of them out there. So far on this trip, we’ve seen Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke each play two games, rotating in for one another. That’s the plan that was laid out coming into the trip, with the Kings wanting both to get into game action. Remains to be seen how those players will be used the rest of the way home, with two games remaining on the trip.

Both goaltenders were on the ice, rounding out the group of 22.

The Kings made a couple of lineup adjustments heading into the game versus the Red Wings. Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Clarke each checked into the lineup, in place of Arthur Kaliyev and Spence, respectively. No morning skate tomorrow, so we won’t get line rushes, and we’ll see if either player checks back in versus Carolina.

Looking back to last night, the final four minutes of the second period saw 2-1 become 5-1. Just like that.

It was the first time on this slump that the Kings have seen a portion of a game truly get away on them. Of the previous seven games, six were one-goal defeats. Even in the two-goal leads surrendered, the Kings were able to stop the bleeding. For the most part, the Kings led in throughout games and saw their leads evaporate late. Last night was different.

“There was a five-minute span where it just kind of collapsed on us,” forward Blake Lizotte said this morning. “That’s really the first time this trip, if you look at our scores throughout each game, we’re winning for most of the games on this trip, but that was disappointing, to kind of have the first time on this trip getting away from us.”

Looking at the goals against, the first was a 5-on-3 goal, with the second penalty coming via a pretty unlucky situation. First, there was the missed high-sticking call on Mikey Anderson, that would’ve given the Kings four minutes of power-play time. Then, with the Kings shorthanded later on, Trevor Moore broke his stick on a clearing attempt and instinctively cleared the puck down the ice with said broken stick still in his hands. Seconds later, it’s in the net.

The Kings felt the fourth and fifth goals have unlucky bounces too. When Matt Roy stepped up at the blueline to deflect a pass, the puck hit right off Patrick Kane, sending #88 in on a breakaway. The fifth goal, while the Kings would like to have defended the play better, hit Pierre-Luc Dubois on the shinpad on the way through, deflecting it in when it was targeted to go wide.

Individually, you could point to bounces or breaks on any of the three goals. You make your own luck, though, and in that stretch of the game, you’ve got to find a way to keep yourself in it. As the third period showed, there was something left to give.

In speaking with Dubois, who noted the goal that hit him on the way in, he feels that the Kings play their best hockey when they’re the ones on the attack, delivering the game and not receiving it. Even if the goals from yesterday had some bad luck individually, the Kings received a lot of play in that stretch and that’s not the style they strive for.

“Unlucky bounces, one goal jumps over Royzie’s stick, one goal hits my shinpad and goes in when it’s going to go wide, sometimes it gets a little bit unlucky, but I think we play our best hockey when we’re the hunters,” Dubois said. “I think when we’re aggressive, when we’re going at teams, when we’re on our toes, I think that’s when we play really well……I think that’s when we play our best hockey.”

That hunting mentality was the staple of how the Kings played early in the season and it wasn’t just one line, it was all four lines.

Right now, that mentality is missed on a consistent basis. It’s part of why two goals leads in November regularly became three-goal leads. It’s part of why, right now, they aren’t. In Detroit, the Kings didn’t feel that mentality was there consistently enough prior to the third period, with McLellan using the word “indifferent” to describe the first 40 minutes. The Kings now know the task awaiting them tomorrow and that’s where the focus currently lies.

“If you’re on your toes and you’re attacking the other team, if you’re suffocating them, you’re not giving them any time to breathe and odds are, you’re going to get the momentum, you’re gonna keep it and you’re just going to keep going and keep rolling,” Dubois added. “I think that’s how it works. If we do the opposite, the other team gets the momentum and it’s tough to create that momentum because they just kind of drown you, nobody feels bad for you in this league. I think if we can do [the former] tomorrow, we’ll have a good chance.”

For Todd McLellan and the coaching staff, a lot of that comes down to getting the full group of players on board at the same time.

After last night’s game, Anze Kopitar turned a phrase. He said that “everybody cares, so it’s hard to be in this situation, but then again, it’s going to be everybody that pulls us out of the situation.”

Last night, the top two lines seemed to really have sustained offensive-zone time, but less so for the third and fourth lines. It’s not always been that distribution as of late and each line has had its night, though it’s rarely been all together. Same goes with putting together a strong offensive performance on the same night at the defending is on point. Even last night, the special teams were excellent on both ends, but the Kings were outplayed at 5-on-5.

Bringing it all together, playing with the mentality that Dubois described, is the goal for tomorrow.

“Right now with our group, we can’t get the band completely back together,” McLellan added. “When we have maybe the top two lines going, there’s a line missing at three or four and when 2-3-4 are going, one’s missing. Same thing with the pairs on the back end. When we’re scoring goals, we don’t quite get the save or the defensive play that we need. When we’re not scoring goals and getting that goaltending, it’s vice versa. So it’s just getting the band back in sync. We’re fighting and trying hard to do that. The players care, they’re engaged, they’re willing to put themselves out there. At the end of the day, it’s the polish that counts.”

It’ll take everybody, so they say.

Game preview to come tomorrow. The Kings spoke today about trying to use the third period in Detroit as a building block moving forward. The special teams were excellent despite the outcome and that’s something to build off of as well. Other than that, it’ll take a 60-minute effort in a building that’s tough to thrive in, against an opponent that prides itself on being the team to dictate play.

The road gets no easier. Another pair of stern tests await the Kings over the next 48 hours.