LA Kings finally earn consecutive wins - Pheonix Copley shines, Jordan Spence gets a shot

Last updated Dec 19, 2022 Edit Source

• News post

• Eric Stephens

Thirty-five days. That was the length of time the Kings went without consecutive victories from their season-high fourth straight win on Nov. 12 to Saturday’s 3-2 triumph over San Jose when Pheonix Copley made a decisive stop on Alexander Barabanov in the fourth round of a shootout.

• Pheonix Copley
• Jordan Spence
• Mikey Anderson
• Trevor Moore
• Jaret Anderson-Dolan
• Viktor Arvidsson
• Arthur Kaliyev
• Blake Lizotte

• Todd McLellan

# Mikey Anderson

Everything’s better when you win. Coming to the rink. Confidence around the room within the team. Players. Everyone. It brings a lot of positive momentum and it’s something I know we haven’t been happy with as a group kind of going one and one all the time. We’re happy to get two and now we just worry about the next one and try to make it three.

I thought [Jordan Spence] looked great. Obviously, he’s more offensive-minded and we got a few guys right now that are good on the offensive side of it. He’s been patient. But I thought he did good. He made some really good, poised plays. Especially on breakouts. He didn’t throw pucks away. Held onto it and maybe come back and found a good play instead of just chipping it out. Happy for him. He’s a great guy. When he comes in, he fits right in the room which is nice.

# Trevor Moore

It doesn’t matter how it happened. But I think we like the way that it happened. I think we were consistent. Stuck with it the whole time. Tried to play our game, unlike Buffalo and Columbus where we kind of slipped away and tried to do it the wrong way. Shootout wins are shootout wins and we’ll take them.

# Todd McLellan

We have a few players that had real good, hot starts right now that are struggling a little bit. But there’s ups and downs with everybody. We’re trying to position them so maybe they can gain a little more confidence and get going again.

Well, Jordan Spence’s done everything that he can do (with AHL Ontario) and he’s done it at a very high level. The offensive part of his game down there is elite. His vision. His ability to create. And create without risk is something that he has in his toolkit. We asked him this summer because of his size — not because of lack of competitiveness or anything, but because of his size — to get a little stronger so that he can handle those plays in and around the net. I know he did that. That area has improved as well. Credit to him for taking information, applying it and now benefitting from it.

We had a chance to clear it. Didn’t quite get there. But the rest of the night, we did a pretty darn good job. Really good in overtime.

[Pheonix Copley]’s fit in very well, which isn’t a surprise. He has experience and carries himself well. Guys enjoy being around him and want him to be part of the group. When he’s in the net, he looks confident and calm which can calm things down for all of us. He’s made some really big saves. He’s made some simple, easy saves. Obviously, in the shootout, he’s had success back-to-back nights. We have three quality goaltenders in our organization. They’re all going to have to play at some point. Right now, he’s running hot and we’ll likely keep going there.

# Jordan Spence

For me, I don’t really want to think about it too much when I’m with the Reign. I just wanted to play my game. If I play my game well and if I’m doing well, I’ll eventually get called up. And, luckily, I got called up last week and had the opportunity to play (Saturday). It’s always an honor playing. To have another big win tonight in the shootout, it’s always a great feeling.

I wanted to score there but at the end of the day, we won.