10-26 Practice - Todays Alignment + First Line Makes Progress, The JADebut, Pinellis Hot Start - LA Kings Insider
# 10-26 Practice - Todays Alignment + First Line Makes Progress, The JADebut, Pinellis Hot Start - LA Kings Insider
# Contributors
# Summary
Practice Day, Insiders! We’ve reached a bizarro world where the Kings are able to practice twice in three days. Crazy stuff. The team was back on the ice earlier today at Toyota Sports Performance Center, with eyes now set on tomorrow’s opponents, the Winnipeg Jets. Coming off of perhaps the best 60 minutes of the season yesterday evening against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Kings are looking to build off of that performance with two more here at home over the next three days.
# Players
# Staff
# Notes and Quotes
# Adrian Kempe
I think it’s coming together more and more. We haven’t scored as much as we’ve wanted to but we’ve still had chances and we’ve got to take care of our own zone first. That’s way we’ve been playing, that’s the way the Kings play, we’ve done that for many years. We take care of our zone, we’re going to get chances and we’re going to frustrate teams and then start getting more chances and goals. We have to keep doing that, I think it showed a little bit yesterday which is a good thing for our line.
Going back to last year, the way the entire team played we were good in the d-zone and eventually we’ll get our chances. At the start of the season, I think we’ve been playing a little bit too risky offensively. We won some games and scored a lot of goals but defensively hasn’t been where we want it to be. I think we showed up in the right direction yesterday and hopefully we can keep that going.
# Todd McLellan
When you bring a new offensive player in, I’m talking about Kevin now, you pop him onto that line and everybody’s thought goes to offense and driving plays. Kevin is very good at that. The DNA of Kopi and Juice it’s from our end out and I’m not saying Kevin’s DNA is different, they’re just trying to mesh all of that together. I think Kevin will get to that point with Kopi and Kempe, eventually, where they realize that it starts here and goes that direction.
[Jaret Anderson-Dolan] does and he has. If we go back to his entry into the lineup in Vegas the year before last, he came in and he had a tremendous game that night and got better as it went along. Then he got a shoulder injury and went back out, that’s not his fault, that’s just what happens in the game and it was tough to get his footing underneath him again. He’s been patient, he’s worked hard, he’s kept himself ready and strange circumstances again last night. He got called upon and I thought he played a real solid game.
# Jaret Anderson-Dolan
If you’re not playing, it’s a chance to get better and to take advantage of the extra ice time out there. It’s something I’ve really tried to key in on, just control what I can and be ready when the time comes.
Conditioning, that’s all, just trying to keep your game legs as much as you can. When you’re watching the game, try to key in and keep your mental focus so when the time comes, you know what to do in those situations. I’ve been here for a few years now, so it’s the same system and it’s pretty easy to jump back into it.