After arriving in St. Louis late yesterday, the Kings took to the ice this morning for a pre-game skate in advance of Game 5 later tonight vs. the Blues.
Based on what LA coach Todd McLellan was showing…
LA Kings expected lineup for Game 5 vs. St. Louis
Iafallo – Kopitar – Kempe
Athanasiou – Lizotte – Carter
Andersson – Vilardi – Brown
Grundstrom – Amadio – Moore
Anderson – Doughty
Clague – Roy
MacDermid – Walker
Petersen (starter)
Quick
Other players available on the road trip:
Austin Wagner
Olli Maatta
Taxi squad – Boko Imama, Sammy Fagemo, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Mark Alt, Matt Villalta
This article will be updated following McLellan’s media scrum later this morning.
McLellan on the Anderson-Doughty pairing
We thought that when that change was made the other night it kind of coincided with us getting back into the game. I think that helped us a little bit. Olli Maatta is a tremendous player. He’s going to be a very good play for us moving forward. He’s had a bit of a tough time adjusting to a new partner, new environment, new system. It’s never easy coming over as a new player, especially in this type of season or circumstances. We have to get him reset and up and running, so that he’s playing to his capabilities. But the Anderson-Doughty pair, we liked in the second-half of the game.
On Lias Andersson
Competitiveness. He has some of Blake Lizotte’s qualities maybe, where he’s tenacious on pucks, he gets good body position over top, he wins more battles than he loses, he seems to have a good sense of what’s going on on the ice, and the utility of being able to play center or wing. We’ve had him in penalty kill situations too. So those are all advantages that he has to use for him as an individual, but also for us as a team.
On the identity of this team to win hockey games
I think we have more in our toolkit, as far as 5-on-5 play goes. That was more of our bread and butter last year, this year our special teams have become facts in the game. I’d like to think our 5-on-5 play can get a little bit better. To grind games out, that’s probably going to be our identity. We’re going to need tremendous goaltending, we’ve been able to get that for the most part. Then everybody has to pull on the rope. There are some teams that can get away with 16 players a night, we need 18 skaters and two goaltenders, There can’t be a shortage anywhere or we’re just too short.
On if the lack of fans in road buildings decreases the advantage home teams normally have
The first thing is, as we go forward, whether there are fans in the building or not, our road performances have to improve. That’s an area we’re looking to see improvement this year. Last year, it was not where it needed to be, so hopefully we could move that point forward. As far as the environment goes, it’s really hard to say how it’ll affect our group or other groups in the league. Obviously, the momentum of the fans and the energy in the building isn’t there. The match-ups and the ability for last change. that’s certainly still works into the home team’s favor. Other than that, I don’t know if there’ll be a big swing one way or the other.
On any changes in demeanor he sees in Adrian Kempe when he plays on the top line
I believe he’s been even-keel. Last year, and I’ve said this about Adrian, I think he’s matured a lot over the last little bit. Last year, I’m not sure that he was ready to play their full-time. I think he deferred to the older veterans, whether it was Brown or Kopitar or Carter or whoever it might be. When he got to play on the wing and be an alpha on a line, he excelled. This year, we were a little hesitant to move him there just because of that fact. But if one game in is any indication, he’s ready to accept that responsibility a little bit more than maybe he had in the past.
On if Thursday night was Kempe’s best game of the young season
Yes, I think it was. He used his legs a little bit better. I think the forecheck was more involved, his special teams play was a little bit better. And that could be said for probably a lot of our players. We’re four games in and a lot of veterans play four exhibition games, then the season starts. We’re four in now, so the mental state of our team, the physical state of our team, whether it’s Kempe or everybody, we should be getting back to normal or as close to normal as we possibly can, in and around this time.
McLellan on what he says to guys like Wagner, after sitting them, then putting back in the lineup – Talked about having to explain things to a player, but also thinks that to be a good NHL player there has to be period of self-reflection. Guys need to be honest about their play.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 23, 2021
Doughty on facing Clifford tonight pic.twitter.com/BNJvNyMJTP
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 23, 2021
Grundstrom on being pretty much confined to the hotel on roadtrips – "A bunch of guys brought their PS5 and XBOX."
This issue, especially for the vet players, is something we talked about on the most recent Mayor's Minutes episode –> https://t.co/uoLCHqwiQT
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 23, 2021
Andersson went on to say that he won the pre-game soccer warmup on Thursday, after Kempe won on Tuesday. He also said it's way more competitive compared to the pregame soccer tune-ups on other teams he's been on. Kings players are ruthless. They want to win.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) January 23, 2021
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So much for the great chemistry between Doughty and Maata. Olli has not looked good so far. Maybe he hasn’t grasped the Kings system yet, but yikes! Or maybe Todd thinks he needs muscle in the line-up against the Blues.
Whatever the case, if Maata keeps playing like he did the first couple of games, he’ll be getting splinters.
Now… who can we add to the line-up instead of Amadio?
We need to see the Andersson/Tonka/Fagemo line at some point on this trip.
#unleashtheSwedes
Meanwhile somewhere 8n Columbus: “Hi coach my name is Patrick nice to meet..” Torts: ” I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! I DRINK IT UP!!!”” THANK YOU MGMT FOR AVOIDING BOTH him & PLD LOL GKG!