November 9 practice notes

Good day to you from the Kings’ El Segundo offices. When the team took the ice for practice earlier today, they were aligned thusly:

Black: Pearson-Kopitar-Brown
White: Lucic-Carter-Toffoli-Weal
Yellow: Gaborik-Andreoff-Lewis
Blue: Clifford-Shore-Nolan

-Jeff Carter left the ice at 10:25 a.m., though Darryl Sutter said the timing was due to a pre-arranged appointment, not anything injury-related. Jordan Weal assumed his spot after he left the ice.

-Defensive pairings appeared to be the same as those used at practice on Friday: McNabb-Doughty, Muzzin-Martinez, Forbort-McBain and Ehrhoff-Greene. Darryl Sutter spoke about Forbort after practice before offering a very interesting account of how the Kings ultimately decided not to use a coach’s challenge on Florida’s goal, which was nearly off-side. Good Sutter quotes to come.

-The Royal Half’s game preview for tomorrow’s game against Arizona will feature a look back at The Royal Rebound, which is apparently the nickname affixed to Los Angeles’ remarkable comeback win over Dallas early in the 2007-08 season.

Tuesday will mark the eighth anniversary of that game, and I asked Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown – the only two current Kings who suited up in that game – about their off-hand recollections of the night, and it brought back some smiles. Both recalled the Kings’ rapid-fire succession of goals – five were scored in 5:07! – and Mike Modano’s equalizer with Marty Turco pulled to set up overtime. (Kopitar scored the overtime game-winner.) Brown remarked about how Dallas was a particularly difficult team to play in his early years in the league. Expect several media types to offer their recollections in tomorrow’s game preview at theroyalhalf.com, as written by The Preview Professor Mike Commito.