11-29 Preview – Vilardi “should be good to go” + Whats Kraken, Lizottes Impact, Holiday Ice

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• News post

• Zach Dooley

The Kings continue on a four-game homestand here this evening as they host the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena.

• Gabe Vilardi
• Anze Kopitar
• Blake Lizotte

• Todd McLellan

# Todd McLellan

It’s a combination of both. You’ve got to look at what they do well and try and have a plan to counter it. It’s not always going to work, but you at least have to identify some areas and then we have to do what we do well. This is a team that’s +18 at 5-on-5, that’s almost a goal per game they start with on the right side of the ledger. It tells me that 5-on-5 will be a tough task, we have to end up on the front end of that, but also special teams. If you get them you better take advantage of them.

We haven’t had a lot of those games this year, I want us to play the way we can and I believe the players want to be like that too. It was flat that we talked about yesterday, we don’t want to be flat and the connectivity of our game from one play to the next has to be clean and that’s where our speed and offense comes from.

We hope that [Blake Lizotte] can, yeah, he’s done a good job. There’s a combination of players that Lizzo makes better and they make him better and when some of that is missing it’s hard for him but it’s also hard for others. That’s hockey, that’s the way it goes, but he is a reliable guy. I have no problem putting him on the ice again and again because the one thing you can count on with him is everything he has. He’s not going to be perfect, there will be mistakes, but it will be by commission not omission.

# Anze Kopitar

I think at this point we should know what they’re all about and plan accordingly. The matter of the fact is that they’re in front of us in the standings and we’ve got to try to catchup. In order to do that, you have to beat them.

# Gabe Vilardi

Yeah, [Blake Lizotte] and [Carl Grundstrom] hunt very hard on the forecheck. With [Lizotte] especially, he’s very, very good with his stick down low, he can create separation. Obviously he’s a smaller guy but he can escape in the corner very well. With him, I just try and get open if he has it in the corner because he’s going to escape his guy and he’s gonna draw double coverage, which means that somebody is open.

Somebody’s going to be open and if that’s me, I’ve got to find that either that soft spot in the slot or if it’s just changing sides and changing point of attack. [Carl Grundstrom]’s very good in the corners.