PRESEASON FINAL – Kings 4, Golden Knights 6 – Kempe, Durzi, McLellan

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• News post

• Zach Dooley

• Gabe Vilardi
• Adrian Kempe
• Sean Durzi

The LA Kings fell by a 6-4 final in their second to last game of the preseason, the annual Frozen Fury tilt in Salt Lake City.

• Gabe Vilardi scored his third goal in the last two pre-season games.

# Adrian Kempe

I think it’s been getting better and better. I think the power play has been good ever since the first game. Five on five, I feel like we’ve been getting better and better throughout the preseason. We had some ups and downs tonight, but overall we had some good looks, obviously scored one goal and one goal that they couldn’t see was in. I think that’s something positive to build on, tough that we lost but I think it’s going in the right direction.

Yeah, I think both units have been doing great on power play. We have got some structure to it, we have guys who can play everywhere, we have a lot of players who can shoot the puck. We changed up some things from previous years and it’s working so far. You’ve got to be prepared, when season starts. team’s are going to be scouting, they’re going to know what we’re going to do, so we’ll need some other plans. I think overall right now it’s looking good.

I mean, go back tomorrow and look at what we could have done better tonight. I think overall, our game is coming together. Still a couple of parts in the game where we can get better but overall, I think we played two good periods tonight and we needed to play three to beat this team or any team in the league. There’s those couple of things, but I think we’re moving in the right direction and we’re happy.

# Sean Durzi

Yeah, at the beginning of the game, I mean I was pretty fired up for the game. Even though it’s an exhibition, it was a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, it felt great to be out there with the guys again competing. I probably wanted a little bit of a better game, that’s just the way it goes.

Yeah, right away, it’s defensive communication with my teammates and making reads in the d-zone. It happens quick, especially after not playing and coming right into it. Talking to guys, you want to make that switch a little quicker, give them a little less time and I think I was just a step slow with my reads, but I’m going to work at it, it’s just reps, talking about teammates and going over the video. It’s getting back into that groove and being hard on myself but learning from it. We don’t have much time here, so I’ve got to get going.

Although it’s an exhibition game, we’re here to win and I think as a team that’s important to approach every single game the same way and know what our identity is, build our identity and trust it. Quite honestly, it’s what preseason is for, it’s what you practice for, it’s how you play. For the team, it’s like I said just sticking together and playing for each other. Personally, I got first game under my belt tonight and like I said, making reads, talking to my teammates, getting used to playing with them again.

# Todd McLellan

Yes and no, I don’t think it’s ever complete because there are guys that elevate, guys that fall off. The best thing that I can tell you is that there’s a group that we’re really happy with and there’s a group where a lot of them aren’t here anymore, there’s still a few that aren’t quite going to get it done. That’s just the way it is, not everybody can play. Our big concern is that middle group, what are they going to do and when are they going to do it? We’ve got three or four days left here before we’ve got to play that team again. Obviously, both clubs are going to get better, they’re going to put different players in the lineup but we’ve given up 10 goals in the last six periods we played. That’s not who we are and that’s not how we should be playing.

It’s a little bit of both, the lineups have gotten stronger and on one side of the coin, we’ve been able to score a lot more and I think sometimes when that’s begins to happen, you forget who you are, you want to get out and, everybody wants to be a goal scorer. There were situations on the rink today, where we had to decide whether we were going to be on the North or the South side of the puck and players that normally would make good decisions in those situations chose the wrong side. I know they’re better than that and that’s why we’re waiting for them. They’ve got to make these decisions now instead of seven, eight, ten games into the season, when they realize it’s a little bit too late. So, not much we can do, we’re counting on them, we trust that they will. One more game to prep and then away we go.

It’s amazing what can happen in two weeks. Players get their legs underneath them, they get a sense of timing, they have some spacial awareness on the ice. When players are coming at them, it starts to speed up a little bit and Sean Durzi is jumping in at that point, that’s going to be the same thing with Viktor Arvidsson. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I thought he did some good things on one side of the puck and others that he has to sharpen up.

Yeah, you know what, every time we come here, the fanbase here in Salt Lake City is a really good hockey one. It’s not just a basketball city or a college city, it’s a hockey city. From what I hear, the minor hockey programs are really strong, the game is growing and to have that type of crowd turnout and cheer for their favorite team, it’s really important. We appreciate them.