Mitchell logs big minutes in return

Other than Jonathan Quick’s 51 saves, the most eye-popping number on the stat sheet might have been Willie Mitchell’s minutes played, a game-high 27:10. That figure, in itself, isn’t shocking — Mitchell regularly plays in the mid-20s — but it is in the sense that Mitchell had been out of the lineup since Nov. 6 with a broken wrist. Part of the major ice time was out of necessity, given that the Kings were down to four defensemen in the third period after injuries to Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi, but Mitchell also was being rewarded for what Terry Murray determined to be outstanding play. Mitchell was credited with one hit and one blocked shot, and had a team-high 3 minutes, 59 seconds worth of penalty-kill time (out of the six minutes that the Kings were playing shorthanded).

MURRAY: “Mitchell was huge for us last night, in his first game back after missing a dozen or so games with the injury. He came back and had an incredible influence on our team, I thought. HIs experience — he’s a veteran guy — helped calmed things down. He makes a lot of the right plays. His penalty killing, in that critical time, was tremendous. I really felt it had an influence on Jack and Doughty, in their games last night. Martinez, he played well, but I think that Mitchell’s game had an impact on those guys and their attitude. `Hey, relax, calm down, settle things out and make the right play.”’

Question: Going into the game, would you have anticipated that he could play that much in his first game back?

MURRAY: “Yeah, I did. You don’t normally put him into that many minutes, obviously, other than the injuries that knocked two guys out. But there was no doubt, going into the game, that his conditioning was right at the peak. He was ready to go as many minutes as needed.”