More from Kings’ morning skate and a look to tonight’s game against Minnesota
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Winger Teddy Purcell was a healthy scratch Saturday. Tonight against Minnesota, with right wing Justin Williams looking at surgery on his broken right leg and a three-month recovery, Purcell will play on the Kings’ top line with left wing Ryan Smyth and center Anze Kopitar. That’s despite having scored only one goal in his last 32 games.
“That’s definitely a big change, but it’s an exciting one,” Purcell said after the Kings’ morning skate today.
“Obviously, you don’t like to see not only your teammate but one of your really good friends go down with such a bad injury. At the end of the day, that happens in hockey, and I’ll try to fill his boots as best I can.
“That line was hot early, then Smitty went down and now Willy. Hopefully I can fill in and create some of that chemistry they had that made them so effective.”
This isn’t quite Purcell’s last chance to justify the strong faith that Coach Terry Murray has shown in him, but it’s got to be close.
Purcell scored two goals in his first three games this season — one against Minnesota, in a 6-3 victory on Oct. 8 — and didn’t score again until Dec. 9 at San Jose. He hasn’t scored in the five games he played after that and was pushed out of the lineup Saturday at Phoenix by the return of Smyth, Brandon Segal and Wayne Simmonds.
The Kings have since returned Corey Elkins to Manchester of the American Hockey League, called up left wing Scott Parse and placed Williams on injured reserve, creating a spot for Purcell tonight. Parse will play with Simmonds and Brad Richardson.
One goal in 32 games simply isn’t enough from Purcell, who supposedly has good hands but hasn’t been able to finish. The Kings scored only seven goals in losing three of their previous four games, and they can’t show much more patience with Purcell if he isn’t producing.
“Quite candidly, a goalscorer needs to put some points on the board on a fairly regular basis. For Teddy to play, you’ve got to take advantage of the skill level that he brings, and he needs to play in the top two lines in order for that to happen and bring it out,” Murray said.
“This is a golden opportunity for him to be playing on the top line with Kopitar and Smyth. He’s capable of playing with those two guys. He’s skilled enough. He reads the ice. He’s smart, and he’s got to dig in and play in that area of the ice that maybe he’s reluctant to go to sometimes. And that’s a mindset. That’s an attitude. And that’s where he’s got to be pushed. I’m going to have to keep demanding it and let him run with it for a little bit here.
“I know he’s been given a lot of rope already. He’s been out. I think he clearly understands that he’s got to get some production and give us production on a pretty consistent basis again to stay where he is tonight. We’ll watch it and see and hopefully it works out.”
The Kings’ scoring drop-off the last few games has become a concern to Murray, who still rues the team’s fruitless six-on-three opportunity in the closing minute of Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Coyotes.
“You’ve got to score at critical times,” he said. “Special teams end up being the difference in the game on any given night — maybe most nights — and we’ve got to find a way to score in that situation.
“On the five-on-five part of it, I think we’re missing the net far too often. We’re shooting pucks but just not getting it on net on a consistent basis where it’s going to draw the people in there. That’s got to be a big focus for us in the game tonight and the rest of the year, to be smarter as to what we’re going to do with the puck.”
One game into his return from a rib injury that took nearly six weeks to heal and “felt like forever,” Smyth said he felt good but slightly off.
“The timing and the hands,” he said. “Just in tight, down low and stuff. But it comes with games, and overall I felt pretty good conditioning-wise. I think I played just over 20 minutes [20 minutes, 17 seconds] so not bad in that regard.”
More later at www.latimes.com/sports -- Helene Elliott