11-16 Preview – Petersen Off First plus Mental Readiness, Kempe Off The Schneid, McHugh Talks LAK

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• News post

• Zach Dooley

The Kings continue on a four-game roadtrip this evening in Edmonton, with the first rematch of last season’s playoff series.

• Cal Petersen
• Jaret Anderson-Dolan
• Adrian Kempe

• Todd McLellan
• Jack Jablonski

# Todd McLellan

Usually the physical side is predictable, you’re somewhere in your schedule when you get a feel that the energy level may be a little bit lower. You’re already somewhat planning for that, using players, using four lines a little bit more, rolling guys over quicker, making sure with shift length, you’re paying attention to it a little bit more. The mental part of the game is a little more unpredictable, yet it comes with fatigue too, so there could be signs of it.

To contrast the two, the coverage that we had versus Detroit, we scored a goal [nine seconds] in because we did some of the things that we wanted to do. Then there are other, and I’m not saying Calgary, but other games where we might miss coverage right away and that’s a sign to a coach or to your teammates that we may not be here. If you don’t know what you’re doing three or four seconds in, you wonder sometimes, but our group has been pretty good with that.

Forecheck, penalty kill, speed, playmaking, puck retrievals, shot blocking, I can go on and on and he does a lot of those things. Yeah, we’d like to see him score consistently, but his spread being a young player and not scoring was a lot wider than it is now, being a more mature player. He’s handling the dry spells better and he’s able to use those other assets to be a good player for us when he isn’t scoring.

# Adrian Kempe

I think once it starts to happen more and more, that’s when you started getting more concerned and you really need to fix some stuff. I feel like going into tonight, we play a team that likes to score and it’s going to be a good challenge for us to keep the puck out of our own net and play the way we can. We played them 11 times last year, so we kind of know what we’re facing tonight and I think it’s going to be a good challenge. I think everybody here in our room really wants to beat them, so it’s going to be fun.

I think we’ve played pretty well and I’ve had some chances over last couple of games and it was a little bit of a lucky one last game, but I think the chances I’ve had recently led to that a little bit.

I think as long as you get the chance this is a good thing, I know I can put the puck in the net. Sometimes you have games where it’s not going your way, one game I think I hit the crossbar three times, so I mean, it’s just one of those moments. I think the key for me was to stay positive and as I said, as long as I get the chances, I feel like I’m gonna put it in the at the at one point. A little bit of a lucky bounce last game, but it was good for my confidence and for my game as well.