Kings hoping for big things from Oscar Moller

Greetings from San Jose, where the Kings held an optional skate this morning before Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Sharks.

The Kings will be without center Jarret Stoll, who was suspended by the NHL for one game for his hit from behind on San Jose defenseman Ian White during the Sharks’ 3-2 overtime victory in Game 1. White won’t play Saturday but Sharks Coach Todd McLellan wouldn’t say whether he will play Kent Huskins or Justin Braun in White’s place.

For the Kings, Trevor Lewis will move up from the fourth line to center for Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams, and Oscar Moller will center the fourth line with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Kevin Westgarth.

Moller, who will make his NHL playoff debut, wasn’t the Kings’ first choice and Coach Terry Murray expressed concern about Moller’s stature possibly being a disadvantage against the Sharks’ bigger players.

The Swedish forward is listed as being 5-foot-10 and 189 pounds but that’s probably generous -- and it’s one reason he was moved from his natural center position to the right wing. John Zeiler, who was the Kings’ first choice to be recalled but couldn't clear 24-hour re-entry waivers in time, is listed at 5-11 and 204 pounds but he’s more muscular and scrappier than Moller.

“Oscar’s a good player. He’s more of a winger than he is a center iceman but he has played at center before,” Murray said. “He can handle the puck. He’s got great vision. He’s got good hands. He can make some plays. We’ll use him on the power play.

Were those fighting words from the Sharks, or a rallying cry by Terry Murray?

Kings Coach Terry Murray had reporters shaking their heads after his post-morning-skate news conference in San Jose on Thursday.

He said his team's playoff series against the second-seeded Sharks "is going to be a real revved-up series, a hard series. Everything I read from the San Jose players talking it's going to be a bit of a 'Gong Show' with fighting. I'm reading about [Ryane] Clowe bloody nose and Ben Eager all over the place and [Jamal] Mayers fighting, so we're going to gear ourselves up for that kind of a game.

"We keep [Kevin] Westgarth in the lineup and that's the way they're setting it up, so we're going to be ready to battle.”

He spoke after the Sharks players had skated and left the HP Pavilion, but no one among the San Jose media was sure what he meant, beyond this article about the Sharks having added grit and muscle, and this one about the rivalry between teams from Northern and Southern California.

It's not that Murray put enforcer Westgarth into the lineup in response to the Sharks' supposed comments -- Murray had been saying all along, since he knew the Kings would face the Sharks, that Westgarth would play early in the series. So he wasn't reacting to what the Sharks said. Or didn't say. If Murray was trying to create some kind of rallying point, it didn't quite work.

Looking at Kings' decision to send Brayden Schenn to the minor leagues

Greetings from San Jose, where there seems to be a pretty good buzz about the playoff opener between the Sharks and Kings at HP Pavilion. The morning skates for both teams drew decent media crowds, including cameras and reporters from Canada’s TSN TV network, which is televising the series.

Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi didn’t respond to my requests to explain why he assigned prized prospect Brayden Schenn to Manchester of the American Hockey League instead of bringing Schenn here to join the big club, but Lombardi’s comments to me in a phone conversation two days ago shed some light on the club's reasoning.

Lombardi said Tuesday, before Schenn’s junior team was eliminated from the Western Hockey League playoffs, that he was hesitant to throw Schenn into the pressure cooker of the playoffs and put the young center in the position of “replacing” injured center Anze Kopitar.

“The other thing, too, is that he can help us in terms of making plays. But the perception that he’s somehow going to fill in for Kopitar is way off,” Lombardi said Tuesday. “He could improve the team in an area like [Andrei] Loktionov, in terms of playmaking and puck possession. But the perception that he’s going to go in there and suddenly Kopitar’s hole is going to be filled, that’s totally unrealistic.

“The other thing in the back of my mind is, is this really the stage to put the kid on?”

Terry Murray on who he'd like to see step up ... and how playoff experience will help the Kings

Asked if he had in mind one player he would like to see become a factor in the seventh-seeded Kings' playoff series against the second-seeded San Jose Sharks and who might have to produce in order for the Kings to pull off an upset, Coach Terry Murray had an interesting answer: winger Alexei Ponikarovsky, who produced only five goals in 61 games this season.

"It’s always a team, it’s always going to be the team. There’s no question about that," he said after the team's practice in El Segundo. "But I think Ponikarovsky is a player that can really step up here in this kind of a series because of size, his strength, the fact that he hasn’t had a real good season.

"He comes in with a resume of having scored 20 goals over the last five, six, seven years. This is an opportunity to put this whole thing on this side and have this be viewed as a new opportunity for him to have an impact in this series using, again, his size and ability to play in those hard areas in front of the net, taking pucks to the net and have the confidence to know that he has scored in the past and this is now [his] time to do something on that part of it."

Murray also said that with most players having had the experience of participating in the playoffs last year, he expects more sureness from them this time around.

Kings' Justin Williams: 'I'm a go' for playoff opener

Right wing Justin Williams told Coach Terry Murray after Wednesday’s practice that he feels prepared to play in the Kings’ playoff opener Thursday at San Jose, three weeks and three days after he suffered a dislocated right shoulder.

Williams and Murray met Tuesday and decided to let Williams go through one more practice before declaring himself in or out. Williams didn’t skate on a line Wednesday — he and injured winger Scott Parse were the only two players wearing gray jerseys — but he went to Murray after the session and pronounced himself ready.

“I told coach I’m a go for tomorrow night. I should be in the lineup,” said Williams, who will continue to wear a restrictive harness on that shoulder and likely will need surgery this summer.

“I’m comfortable as I’ll ever be. I’m confident I’m going to make an impact. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore.”

Murray didn’t want to wait until Thursday’s game-day skate to get Williams’ decision and probably would have liked to know before Wednesday’s practice so he could have had a full session with Williams on whatever line he will play on against the Sharks. Murray said he’s not sure how he will reconfigure his lines. “We’ll find a place,” Murray said.

Puck notes: Playoffs; Dean Lombardi on Brayden Schenn; Devils win draft lottery

A key matchup in the Kings’ first-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks could be the Sharks’ power play, which ranked second in the NHL with a 23.5% success rate, against the Kings’ penalty killing, which ranked fourth with an 85.5% efficiency rate.

“I think that’s an easy one to point out,” Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said the other day during a conference call with reporters.

“Their penalty kill has been exceptional all year. They’ve got some units that do a tremendous job and their goaltender might be their best penalty killer. We do rely on our power play. I expect it to be sharp but I do believe this series will likely be won five-on-five. Those two special teams may offset each other and you’re going to have to perform five-on-five and find a way to prevent a score.”

Kings Coach Terry Murray agreed that it’s wise not to rely too much on the power play in the playoffs because the calls might not be plentiful.

“Some teams look for that and wait for that and it can come back and haunt you,” he said Tuesday after the Kings practiced in El Segundo.

“I think there will be a lot of five-on-five play. I don’t think we’re going to get into too many special teams, in my opinion. I just base it on the way the season finished off the last month—they let the teams decide the outcome.”

The Kings had only 23 power plays in their last seven games and had no power plays or disadvantages against Dallas on April 2.

Kings' morning skate: Quick to start as season ends against Ducks

The Kings held an optional skate Saturday in preparation for their season finale against the Ducks tonight at Staples Center. Most players opted for treatment instead of taking to the ice.

Afterward, Coach Terry Murray said team captain Dustin Brown is fine and will play Saturday after being shaken up on a hard hit by Toni Lydman in the third period of the Kings' 2-1 loss to the Ducks at Anaheim on Friday.

Also, Jonathan Quick will start in goal for the Kings for the second successive night. He stopped 26 shots Friday in a loss that enabled the Ducks to clinch a playoff spot.

“There’s great significance to the game for us tonight. We want to finish as high in the standings as we possibly can,” Murray said.

“We want to put ourselves in the most positive situation we can and finishing this regular season with a win is what we’re shooting for.”

The Kings can still finish anywhere from fourth through eighth -- as can the Ducks. Because of various tiebreakers and the other teams involved, the two local teams can’t finish 4-5 and won’t play each other in the first round.

Kings need quick turnaround--and a turnaround for Jonathan Quick--before they can celebrate

In two of their last three games the Kings have unwittingly been a footnote to history.

In losing last Thursday at Vancouver they allowed the Canucks to clinch the President’s trophy and top overall seeding in the playoffs. On Monday their 6-1 loss at San Jose allowed the Sharks to clinch a fourth consecutive Pacific division title.

Neither experience was a happy one for the Kings.

“It’s not fun at all, especially Vancouver. We’ve had a pretty good rivalry against them the last little bit,” forward Brad Richardson said. “It’s never easy seeing that team beat you or clinch the league.”

The Kings hoped to do some clinching of their own Tuesday night. To secure a playoff spot they need to gain two points or to have Dallas fail to get two points in its last four games, and the Stars are at home Tuesday to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Kings next play Wednesday, when they face Phoenix at Staples Center.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick, who gave up four goals on 16 shots at San Jose before being replaced by Jonathan Bernier, is scheduled to start against the Coyotes.

“There is no conversation. Quick’s our No. 1 goaltender. He’s the guy that we’re riding,” Coach Terry Murray said after the team practiced Tuesday in El Segundo.

Kings looking to Ducks for help; Justin Williams returns to the ice

The Kings found themselves in an unaccustomed position Sunday: rooting for the Ducks.

A victory by the Ducks over the Dallas Stars on Sunday in regulation would clinch a playoff berth for the Kings and the Ducks -- as well as for the Phoenix Coyotes.

“Go Ducks,” defenseman Jack Johnson said after the Kings practiced in El Segundo and prepared for their flight to San Jose for Monday’s game against the Sharks.

The Kings and Ducks have never made the playoffs in the same season, so it’s odd that they could change that bit of history on the same day. The Ducks missed the playoffs last season while the Kings qualified for the first time since 2002.

After a six-game, first-round elimination at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks last spring the Kings entered this season with high expectations. They experienced some extremes in successes and slumps and lost the production and creativity of forwards Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar in the last two weeks, but they’re fourth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference and might earn home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Definitely our No. 1 goal coming into the season was making the playoffs. Surpassing what we did last year and getting further and deeper and, hopefully, winning is all we want,” center Jarret Stoll said. “That hasn’t changed.

“It’s been a lot of hard work. It’s been a long year. There’s been lots of ups and downs. There’s been a couple big downs, a couple big ups.”

Kings expect to have their hands full against Canucks

My three-game/three-day/three-city trip, which started in Edmonton for the Kings' game Tuesday and continued to Calgary for the Ducks' game Wednesday, will end on a spring-like day in Vancouver with the Kings facing the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

The Canucks assured themselves of the top seed in the West, but the Kings can at least delay Vancouver's clinching of the President's Trophy for the overall point title.

For the Canucks to claim the top seed in the league Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers will have to lose at home to Atlanta and the Canucks would have to defeat the Kings. If not Thursday, it's sure to happen soon.

"They're a much better hockey team this year. A much more mature hockey team I think, in how they're playing," Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell said of the Canucks, his team for four seasons before he moved south of the border last summer.

Kings Coach Terry Murray on 'NHL Overtime' talks about Kopitar, Vancouver

Kings Coach Terry Murray was a guest on Versus' "NHL Overtime" on Wednesday night and he talked about the injuries the team has suffered and looked ahead to Thursday night's game in Vancouver.

In the clip above, be forewarned, seeing Anze Kopitar's slow-motion fall to the ice during Saturday's game at Staples Center may make you cringe. On the bright side, the team announced Wednesday that surgery to repair the torn ligaments in Kopitar's right ankle was successful.

Looking at the matchup between the Canucks, who have already clinched the top seeding in the Western Conference, and the Kings, it's almost even in some key areas.

For example, in penalty-kill percentage, the Kings have a 85.9% success rate while the Canucks are at 85.6%. Face-off-win percentage is close too: 50.9% for the Kings and 55.1% for the Canucks. Perhaps best of all, in goals allowed per game they're nearly even: 2.36 for the Kings and 2.22 for the Canucks.

The Kings will need to play superb defense again and try to keep Henrik and Daniel Sedin at bay (the twins have a combined 189 points going into the game).

Click here to listen to the game. (Link goes live at 7 p.m. when the puck is dropped.)

RELATED:

Anze Kopitar's surgery successful

Kings to begin selling playoff tickets online

-- Debbie Goffa