Practice 12/14 – Today’s “Cleanse” + A Tale of 2 Halves, Bump-Up Breakdowns, Salin To WJC

Practice Day in Beantown.

The LA Kings hit the ice this afternoon for a full-team skate here in Boston. TD Garden is the home of tomorrow evening’s tilt between the Kings and Bruins and that’s where the Kings hit the ice for practice earlier today.

We could go on about what we’d like to see differently, whether it be line combinations, personnel moves or shakeups, but the Kings can make no more than three tomorrow, because that’s the number of extra players they have with them on the trip and that’s probably a bit besides the point anyways. The team knows it needs to play better and play the right way as a group, independent of who is in the lineup tomorrow evening against the Bruins.

That process started with today’s practice, where the Kings aimed to “cleanse” in the words of Todd McLellan.

“It’s cliche to say we put it behind us and we move on, we didn’t do that,” McLellan said today. “We cleansed today. We talked about a number of different things that went right for us early and what went wrong for us late. Penalties and penalty kill in particular, we tried to address it.”

When it came to today’s skate, we definitely saw a focus on the penalty kill, among other areas that the Kings feel need to be focused on. I’m not reading a ton into today’s configuration, which looked relatively unchanged from yesterday, but it was hard to get a good feel. Nothing from today’s practice was line-centric, with just a few observations from varying drills that didn’t revolve specifically around combintations. Tomorrow’s morning skate will give us a better indication of the alignment against the Bruins.

Notes –
Where Things Went Wrong
A lot of talk last night about where and how things went awry and most of the thoughts were the same. Good 40 minutes, downfall in the third because that’s what the numbers would show you.

Todd McLellan believes things started to go downhill sooner, however. He pinpointed late in the second period as an area when things started to turn

“I actually think it was in the second period, to tell you the truth, it wasn’t the third,” he said. “We were pretty direct with our entries early and then we had a couple Harlem Globetrotter entries, if you will, where we tried to make cute plays and that fed their transition. They got a little bit confidence, started to feel better and went the other way. We got on the power play and we took a penalty right at the net and that was their first opportunity to get their unit out and get going and they did a good job of it. They just gained momentum from there.”

From that first penalty on, the parade to the box continued for the Kings and as McLellan pointed out, several of those penalties came far away from the Kings net, stick infractions and penalties that were not in immediate areas of danger in front of Pheonix Copley’s crease.

It turned into more of a game of two halves, than three periods. The Kings executed well in the first half, but weren’t able to capitalize on the scoreboard in the first half, or stick with it into the second. Buffalo held on for long stretches, but once they got started, it was hard to stop.

“We had three keys last night that we felt we needed to execute to have success, and they were evident in the first half of the game,” McLellan said. “Why they didn’t show up in the second half, part of it’s because you’re on the penalty kill for six [times] in a 25-minute span. Two, are you patient enough, do you have the detail or the discipline to stick with it? It was a complete opposite game, one team controlled the first half, the second team controlled the second half. Buffalo did a better job of sticking with it and they were rewarded with a big win.”

Quick Strikes
Last night in Buffalo was two goals in 13 seconds, making a 1-0 game into a 3-0 game. In Toronto last week, it was two goals in 26 seconds and three goals in 66 seconds, as a 0-0 game became 3-0. It was less drastic in Columbus, but still two goals from 91 seconds, to turn a tie game into a two-goal deficit for the Kings.

Last season, what Todd McLellan called a “bump-up shift” was a trademark of the Kings. Frequently, they’d turn out a momentum-building shift or a goal back the other way, which would frequently swing the nature of a game in their favor. As of late, it’s far too frequently gone the other way for the Kings, with one goal becoming two, or in the case of Toronto, one goal becoming three.

It’s something that everyone has agreed has broken down, and everyone has agreed is a problem. So, what’s the solution? Get the puck going the other way seems to be the consensus.

Blake Lizotte – I think getting some o-zone time and creating some momentum and energy, maybe getting a whistle in the o-zone even, so you don’t have any scoring chances against, that’s when momentum goes back to the other team.

Phillip Danault – Simple, just get it deep and go grind them down. Execution, just focusing on the little details and not taking it too hard or too far. It’s a challenge to go out after a goal, the other team has confidence, so we that next shift, we need to work on that.

Alex Iafallo – Just getting a good forecheck or having a solid shift in the offensive zone. We need to start having harder shifts after we get scored on or even when we score, we haven’t had good shifts after that either, make sure we don’t fall apart.

Easier said than done, obviously, but it starts with the center ice faceoff and goes from there. Win the draw, get the puck going the right way and start to generate positive momentum. It’s not always going to happen where you immediately respond with a goal the other way, but that shift is an opportunity to generate positive momentum to get your team back in the game. Of late, it’s simply extended the momentum going back against the Kings.

It’s been an area of the team’s game that has fallen short in the three defeats on this trip and an area the Kings are clearly thinking about and focusing on. Against tomorrow’s opponent, the Boston Bruins, it will be essential to control momentum swings better than in Buffalo and managing those shifts better after goals against is one place to start.

Otto Rocket
Lastly, Insiders, a look to the prospect pool, as defensive prospect Otto Salin was named to Team Finland’s roster at the 2023 World Junior Championships, as reported today by Lassi Alanen of Elite Prospects.

Salin was a part of Finland’s “challenger squad” over the summer, a group that was brought into selection camp to play against Finland’s 2022 WJC squad and gear up for the 2023 tournament. Salin is one of eight defensemen who will participate in the event in a few weeks time. Salin profiles as an offensively-minded defenseman, whose game centers around his skating ability and his ability to push the puck up ice using his legs.

As an 18-year-old, Salin has been a regular in Finland’s top men’s division – SM-Liiga – playing with HJK Helsinki. He should feature for Finland both this and next season and this will be a great oportunity for Kings fans to see him in action, perhaps for the first time.

Kings Director of Scouting, Mark Yannetti, on Salin
Salin’s skating was the first thing that stood out, his skating is excellent, His skating allows him to get into situations and get out of them [both good and bad]. He has the ability to skate the puck up the ice and push the pace; that’s a great thing. That’s an ingredient you can’t add later down the line and you can always pull a guy back. The fact that [Salin] can skate himself in and out of trouble at this stage of his career is a good thing… and he has the ability to play more of controlled game.

Kings and Bruins tomorrow from TD Garden. One team is in search of a victory to pul over .500 for a long trip. The other is looking to extend an unbreaten in regulation run of 16 consecutive games to open a season. The Kings would certainly extend the latter to take the former, if it means an overtime victory. More to follow in the AM from Boston.

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