LA Kings are showing signs of heading back in the right direction
# LA Kings are showing signs of heading back in the right direction
| Date | Site | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-26 | The Athletic | LA Kings are showing signs of heading back in the right direction |
| 2022-10-26 | The Athletic | LA Kings are showing signs of heading back in the right direction |
# Contributors
# Summary
Gabriel Vilardi took on a bigger role Tuesday night and delivered.
# Players
# Staff
# Notes and Quotes
# Todd McLellan
If you’re playing against Tampa, it doesn’t have to be at home or the road. It could be at a neutral site game in Europe. You better be ready. It’s a pretty good opponent for us to have … to see if we can get it going in the right direction consistently. It’s been going in the right direction but inconsistently.
I like to think we’re moving in the right direction. Even the game in Washington, other than the comeback. But we’re starting to do some things characteristic of last year. But this is this year’s group. We’ll still find our way and evolve as we go.
I can’t say enough about the young man. [Gabe Vilardi]’s been outstanding since training camp. The fact that Arvy wasn’t able to go after warm-up was a bit of a surprise to us. Things got shuffled quickly. He went up there. He has the toolkit to be playing up there. And he’s got a lot of confidence on the power play right now. He’s checking well. Using his body, his size. I think as he leaves the rink every day, he’s really enjoying the game. And he’s earned it.
It’s our identity. We should be hard to play against. We should be predictable, we should take care of each other and we should be tight defensively. That’s who we are. That’s pretty simple.
# Gabe Vilardi
I’m just taking it game by game. There’s certain games where I’m feeling better than others.
Different players. But with Phil, his stick is unreal. It’s unbelievable down low how many plays he keeps alive. Mooresy is just a work horse. They’re both similar. I think that kind of fits my game as well because I think I have a good stick as well and I like to play down low. We kind of just feed off each other. I kind of let them down. I should have scored a few times there when I didn’t. But, yeah, it was good.
# Phillip Danault
It’s huge. You need that and it’s part of culture. He fit right in. It didn’t take two or three games. He just fit in right away. I think it shows how ready he is and how strong he is mentally. He’s ready for an opportunity, which he took tonight.