Kings back to work, Penner getting closer

The Kings went through practice today in suburban Maryland and will be back on the ice tomorrow as well, followed by a team excursion to go curling. Who will get it in the house? Who will be the best sweeper? There are other questions to ask, about hockey, most notably whether Dustin Penner will be able to play Thursday (at New Jersey) and/or Saturday (in Philadelphia). Terry Murray was asked, after practice today, about Penner…

MURRAY: “It is too early to talk about the lineup. Dustin Penner was out there. He skated for about 40 minutes, then came off for more therapy. Everything about that was planned, so there’s no issue there. He’s feeling better and getting better as each day goes along, so we’ll see how he is tomorrow, to maybe move him into a line situation to prepare him for the game. But that’s determined by our medical staff and talking to them.”

Murray also talked about what the Kings emphasized in practice today…

MURRAY: “Going through these next three days of practice before our next game, it’s going to be about the fundamentals again. We executed pretty well. We had some solid play in both ends of the rink in the two games against the Rangers and Buffalo. We started to show some cracks at different points of the game, as an example, the second period against the New York Rangers. Then there was some play in the offensive zone against Buffalo, where I thought we could have been more on the hunt to recovery pucks, and more determined. They end up with three and we end up with two on the puck, and we ended up losing possession of it. So these little things, that are a fundamental part of the game, are just what we will be hammering on over the next few days. Along with that, you just keep working on your team chemistry and your team confidence.”