Dwight King is certainly making a name for himself here in the playoffs. With another goal on Tuesday night, he now has three markers in the last two games and four total in the playoffs. That’s the most from any Kings’ rookie in one playoff year since Warren Rychel had six goals back in 1993. He’s usually a pretty quiet who just sits in his corner of the locker room and doesn’t speak much – even when spoken to. However, similar to his play on the ice, there’s a personality starting to shine through a little. After attending some team meetings on Wednesday’s off-day, here’s what he shared with the gathered media…
– On keeping his emotions in check for what should be a raucous home crowd for game three – “You definitely feed off the crowd. There’s a lot of energy out there. Everybody will be amped up and playing hard.”
– RE: the sense on the bench while seeing Dustin Brown get hit the way he did in game two – “It’s not very good to see your top player at the moment get hit like that. But it’s good to see him get up and show no ill effects out of it. We’ve obviously got to play physical again. Tomorrow night’s going to be the same.”
– On Brown’s leadership skills: “He leads by example, as is pretty obvious. He’s been a top player in playoffs. He’s out there and gives it his all. When you see that, you want to follow up on it.”
– On using the other team’s lack of discipline (i.e. St. Louis and/or Phoenix) to your advantage: “I think our special teams in general have been really good. Obviously our penalty kill has been great so far. When teams take penalties, we seem to get timely goals on the power play. It’s helped us a lot.”
– On not retaliating in those situations: “Nobody’s happy when those plays happen, but discipline is a huge part of playoffs. You get the opportunities like the five-minute power plays we got, the couple goals we got out of it, that’s what won the games.”
– On if he’s surprised how much the Kings have been able to get teams off their game: “I think it’s the style we play. We try to impose our will a little bit, be physical, be hard on top players on the opposing team. Over time, people get frustrated with that.”
– On being where he is now, considering he started the year in Manchester: “This is any kid’s dream, being in this situation. Having it all come true in this short amount of time, it’s been great.”
– On the help he’s received from more experienced players (i.e. Jarret Stoll and Rob Scuderi): “There’s guys who have been there before on our team, not just for myself, but for everybody else out there who got caught up in the moment a little bit, they’re there to keep you grounded. They obviously know we’re not done yet. We still got a little bit of work to do. As long as we keep on the right path here, things will keep looking good.”
