LA Kings Rasmus Kupari stepping up in Quinton Byfields absence

Last updated Nov 7, 2022 Edit Source

• News post

• Eric Stephens

In the grand scheme of the Kings’ eventful 5-4 win over Florida to start their homestand Saturday night, Rasmus Kupari played a small role that might get overlooked as the game’s many notable plays rolled out.

• Rasmus Kupari
• Gabe Vilardi
• Matt Roy
• Kevin Fiala
• Quinton Byfield
• Matthew Tkachuk

• Todd McLellan

# Gabe Vilardi

I knew [Sergei Bobrovsky] was coming late to the post, so I just tried to beat him under the glove in that reverse VH he was in. Lucky enough it went in.

# Matt Roy

You can look at the video. It’s a dirty play. You can see [Matthew Tkachuk] poke Quickie in the eye there. Hopefully the league takes a look at it. It’s a dirty play.

# Trevor Moore

[Matthew Tkachuk] just seems to always be in the middle of those things. It’s probably not always coincidence. He plays hard. It’s just part of his game. You just got to deal with it.

# Todd McLellan

It’s what [Matthew Tkachuk] does,. It makes him a good player. Makes him a villain. Do we like the poke in (Quickie)’s face mask? Of course we don’t. But I don’t think it’s anything that we can deal with now. Other people have to look at it.

Pros and cons. Great to see [Rasmus Kupari] score a goal because I think he was a little disappointed that he turned the puck over in the neutral zone. But he continues to check well. He uses his legs real well and provides us some pace. Gets involved in the forecheck. Kevin seems to be finding him now so there’s some chemistry there.

Q’s no different than anybody else. But he needs energy and he needs strength. He’s got to feel good about himself.

It’s called competition. And I think that’s what we want. It happens every summer. And some of the players in this organization have had it pretty good because as the teardown happens, players have to play. You have to dress 20 players a night so maybe some that wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity got the opportunity. But we’re not at that stage anymore. And I’m just talking in generalities. I’m not talking about Kup or anybody else. Now when you bring in D#anault and you bring in Fiala, you’re bringing in top-six players. Everybody gets probably put where they need to be put in the lineup and that’s what you hope for as an organization. Part of that is the evolution of young prospects. When you’ve spent four or five years stockpiling prospects, you have a number of them. And they can’t all play at once. For different reasons, whether it’s waivers, cap, play, indifferent play, players go up and down. And we’ll use every tool we possibly can.

Well, I’ve always said, I don’t think anybody should lose their spot to injury or illness. It’s out of their control. You lose your spot in a lineup based on indifferent play. So, we’ll see when everybody gets (back). There’s no decision that has to be made right now based on Quinton or Ras or anybody else in our lineup because he’s not ready to play.

# Rasmus Kupari

Obviously, it was great to get a call-up after those six games I spent with Ontario. It tells that I’ve done something right down there. Just try to take advantage of it. Just bring my energy to the team and try to help that way. Play my game. I know the system so there’s nothing new in it. Try to be confident. Don’t be scared of anything. I had good games down there. It was good. Built my confidence up. Played big minutes there. Just try to bring that here as well.

I get that. There’s a lot of good guys in here. Young guys. Older guys. Veterans. Good mix of guys. It’s not easy to crack the lineup. Obviously, there was disappointment. Didn’t make the team off of camp but did some right things down with the Reign. Just tried to go day by day. Stay positive and work hard and get better. I do that now as well. Trying to bring my game here and hopefully can stay here.