In his 100th game behind the LA Kings bench, coach Todd McLellan walked away with a win after his team defeated the visiting Vegas Golden Knights 3-1.
Following the event, he shared some comments:
McClellan on if he was happier with tonight’s start than the previous start
Yeah. It felt a little bit different on the bench tonight. With the start the other night, we waited for something to happen. It did, then we got going again. Tied it up, then we waited again. Tonight was different. I thought we played a really good 40 minutes and then we knew their push was coming. They’re at the top of the league for a reason. They threw everything they had at us, 5-on-3s, and a lot of momentum is gained when you’re playing in the other team’s zone like that. For the most part, it was a real good team game, all four lines, five defensemen, and certainly the goaltender participated. It’s nice to win that group game rather than an individual game sometimes.
On Matt Roy playing a career-high 26 minutes tonight and the contract extension that he signed this morning
His game tonight was very good, all five defensemen were put in a tough spot to play against a bigger, heavier team, a very skilled team like that from basically minute 17 or 18 minutes into the first period. It’s taxing. They played very solid. They made a lot of simple plays. We were much better around our net for secondary chances, and Matt Roy was a big part of it. As far as his extension, he deserves every little bit of it. We have a ton of confidence in him. I think he feels comfortable here with the group. Much like [Sean] Walker, they’ll get an opportunity to grow and get better as the team gets better. With the reward now comes more responsibility, that’s part of becoming a veteran in the league. As you move up in contract years, you also move up in responsibility years. We will expect more from him. We’ll expect more from Walker and anybody else that continues to grow with our organization.
On the Kings success in the second game of two-game sets this season
A lot of these series are like playoff series. You get the jump on a team and maybe you take your foot off the gas if you won the first. I don’t know, it’s happening around the league a fair amount. It also gives us a chance to point out some strengths and some weaknesses of game one and try and make adjustments as we go. The things we focused on, we did a better job of tonight. It helped us with the victory.
On the team’s game management in the third period
The penalty kill was huge. To come out of it unscathed 5-on-3 for that amount of time against that group was desperately needed. Real good killing by the killers, and in particular Cal [Petersen]. He made some real good saves. After that, we had some checking kills, but we knew they were coming. When that group can play without any responsibility defensively, they just throw everything at you. It’s a tough group to play against, as is any team in the league, but in particular them. Good for our group to weather the storm.
On the status of Olli Maatta
I don’t know how he’s feeling now. If it was that early in the game and he hasn’t come back, he’s probably not feeling real good. We’ll see where we are tomorrow with him.
On the satisfaction of seeing Jeff Carter get a goal tonight right after Vegas scored
They go to the bench and they’re excited, they feel it coming, I’m talking about the opposition. To have [Carter] and [Andreas] Athanasiou execute that play and score, I’m sure it takes a lot out of the opposition. I can’t speak for their team there, but it gives us a little bit of breathing space. It puts them in a situation where they have to pull the goaltender again with two goals down. A lot more comfort. Good for [Carter] to bear down in that situation. Athanasiou made a great play to headman the puck, and we caught them being very aggressive. They were really good at it. We just had that one moment where we caught them being aggressive and we made them pay for it.
On if he’ll need to manage minutes of some players with 25 games scheduled in the next 48 days
Yes and no. Not necessarily in the games. They’ve played those minutes beforem It’s on the off days, it’s the practice days. We’re almost two separate teams right now. We have a group that doesn’t need to physically practice, they have to mentally practice and be prepared to make adjustments and just keep their legs and lungs clean. Then we have other players, taxi squad and other guys, that are in and out that really need to practice. It makes for a really, really odd season, especially with half of the season left. That’s just the way it is. I’m not too concerned about the older players not skating a lot. They’re smart, they’re experienced, they’re able to visually see it and make adjustments. The young guys still have some legs that aren’t playing a lot and they have to work on their skills and be prepared to play.
Who knew that would be the winning combination for the Kings to beat Vegas. #crazy https://t.co/rzOHgJKrHF
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 22, 2021
STATS CHECK
Kings have now been perfect on the PK for 7 straight games (killing off all four VGK power-play chances).
Kings are now 74-for-87 on the PK this seaaon, ranking fourth in the NHL in PK percentage (85.1 pct.).#specialteamsarespecial
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 22, 2021
STATS CHECK
Anze Kopitar 2A today. His 29 assists are fourth in the league and his 37 points are tied for fifth. #AllHart
Dustin Brown scored his 14th goal of the season and eighth on the power play. His eight PPGs are tied for third in the NHL. #specialteamsarespecial
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 22, 2021
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