The LA Kings are suddenly on a winning streak Is this the turning point

Last updated Jan 16, 2023 Edit Source

• News post

• Eric Stephens

Back and forth. Plays were made. Plays were broken up. Big goals were scored. Potential decisive goals were stopped.

• Blake Lizotte
• Adrian Kempe
• Gabe Vilardi

• Todd McLellan

# Todd McLellan

That was tight-checking. Not a lot of space. The odd breakdown, the goaltenders played well. Special teams were dangerous on the power play, yet the penalty kill was pretty good. It felt like a playoff game. That’s what it felt like.

I think Gabe is still a top-three, top-six player in my mind. Needed a little rejuvenation with the gas tank and a little bit of confidence. He scored tonight so obviously that’s a real big thing for him. When we compare his four years with us now, when he wasn’t scoring, he didn’t bring a lot to the table. Now he is. It’s not just about scoring. I think he himself — and I believe this is true — values a lot of other things and it makes him feel good when he’s doing those things. Whether it’s board work. Blocked shots. Getting in and loosening up a puck on the forecheck. Playing good defensively. There’s a little scorecard probably somewhere in his mind and that makes him feel really good when he’s doing that. I’m not sure that happened in the past. Young players that are drafted that high often feel they need stats to stay and that’s not the case. You need to play well to stay.

I think the test we’re taking right now is amongst ourselves. I’ve said this for a while. A lot of you have mentioned the turning point. The transition from not being happy to being happy. Playing the way we can. Identity. That test still exists amongst our players. Every night is a test when it comes to playing in the league. There aren’t any freebies. Big, heavy, hard team and we played with them so that’s a good sign. We’ll have the same issue tomorrow night. But the test itself right now, it’s the black-and-white team that’s in the middle of it.

# Blake Lizotte

Calgary is a good team. They didn’t go away.

I think it’s kind of demanded that I play better. Playing with players of Arvy’s stature and Gabe in his own right is having a great year demands a lot out of you. It makes me a better player both with the puck and away from the puck.

# Adrian Kempe

It was two good teams out there. It was a good game. I felt like we played well. They played well. Obviously bad things are going to happen. When you play a team like that, you know they have a lot of offense up front and they’re going to create their chances. But I think overall, we were pretty happy with our game. We could have cleaned up a little bit at the end in the third period but other than that, I think there’s a lot of things we can take from this.

Yeah, I feel like every game we play top teams or team that we expect to be in the playoffs, it’s a good challenge for us. And, tonight, we played a division team that could end up being a team we play in the playoffs. We have to be ready for that. We played a pretty good game until the last 10 minutes in the third. That’s the way we have to keep playing during the season now to prepare for playoffs and where the fun starts.

# Gabe Vilardi

I was staying back post in case the puck ended up there. He made a great play back to me. It’s for an easy tap-in. Fun goal.