NHL teams play all season for the right to have home-ice advantage in the playoffs. For the Kings, home ice hasn't been too much of an advantage this season, at least until recently.
The Kings on Tuesday earned a 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at home, another victory at Staples Center under coach Darryl Sutter, who took over for Terry Murray in December.
Under Murray this season, the Kings were 7-8-1 at Staples Center.
Under Sutter, the Kings are now 12-4-3 at home. Sutter, from his first day, put an emphasis on improved play at home.
"You've got to have an identity," Sutter said. "Top teams have strong identities at home. In the big picture, if you're .500, or just over .500, on the road, you're a good team, but at home you better be a 70-, 80-percent deal (in winning percentage)."
It's been an unusual "home" season for the Kings anyway, as they started with games in Stockholm and Berlin that were designated home games, leaving them with only 39 games at Staples Center this season.
The Kings host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
NOTES, QUOTES
High-scoring Toffoli looms as elite prospect
--A glance at the junior-level Ontario Hockey League suggests the Kings might have a future top-flight scorer in their system. Tyler Toffoli, the Kings' second-round draft pick in 2010, led the OHL in goals this season, as he finished with 52 goals and 100 points for the Ottawa 67s. Toffoli, as his numbers suggest, is considered a good finisher with good hands, but his skating is what might hold him back, in terms of making the NHL in the short term. Toffoli would be eligible to turn pro and play in the American Hockey League next season.
--The Kings' offense has improved greatly since they acquired Jeff Carter from Columbus on Feb. 24, but defenseman Willie Mitchell also attributes the improvement to something that happened two months earlier, when the Kings hired Darryl Sutter to replace Terry Murray as coach. Mitchell suggested that Sutter's system changes have boosted the Kings' offense. "I've enjoyed Darryl since he has come in," Mitchell said. "He's a good coach. He's a smart coach. He's demanding, there's no doubt about it, but he gets it. He gets systems, gets playing the games, gets that it's not just about running a system and sticking to your routes, like maybe in football. There is some read-and-react that goes on, and it allows the guys to make their own reads. I think that has brought a little bit more offense to our team, as you're starting to see. We're starting to get a little more comfortable."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Everybody does -- we all do -- our own little speculations in the summer. It proves, always, that most of them are wrong... It's surprising, in your division, that you have three of 10 against one team. I wonder if anybody else has that, three out of 10?" -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter, on whether he is surprised that the Kings and Sharks, two preseason favorites in the Western Conference, are battling for eighth place.
ROSTER REPORT
PLAYER NOTES:
--C Mike Richards scored a goal, a shorthanded goal. Of Richards' 16 goals this season, three have been shorthanded.
--G Jonathan Quick got to enjoy a rarity this week: three days off between games. Quick started last Friday at Anaheim, then got to sit until he started Tuesday night against San Jose. In between, backup G Jonathan Bernier beat Nashville on Saturday. Coach Darryl Sutter has been tempted to start Quick -- statistically one of the NHL's top goalies this season -- in every game down the stretch, but thought it was wiser to give Quick a little rest and give a start to Bernier, who was coming off a strong game. "I was trying to make sure we got Bernie in again, right away," Sutter said. "The way that was, it was almost four full days (off for Quick). That was the best time to do it."
Quick stopped 20 of 22 shots to beat the Sharks.
--LW Kyle Clifford is only 21 years old, and in his second NHL season. That's easy to forget, given that Clifford spent all of last season in the NHL and, by the time the playoff started, had risen to a first-line role. Clifford struggled for a major chunk of this season, though, and was a healthy scratch for a game last month, his first such benching. Since then, though, Clifford seems to have simplified his game, on the Kings' fourth line, and is benefitting from playing next to veteran C Colin Fraser. "I think he probably had a bigger role than he should have had," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of Clifford.
"He's the youngest player on the team, and he was probably pushed up a level a little too soon. I think the role he's in now is one that he can really work at, to expand it again. It's simple."
--LW Dwight King isn't expected to be a top scorer, playing on a line with C Mike Richards and RW Jeff Carter -- two former 30-goal scorers in the NHL -- but since being called up from the American Hockey League last month, King has showed that he can contribute on the Kings' second line. King, who has four goals in 18 games this season, has been valued for his willingness to go to the corners and the front of the net, and open up space on the ice for Carter and Richards. "He has the hockey sense to be able to play with top guys," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said, "so the next part, in his development going forward, will be his training and consistency, those sorts of things."
MEDICAL WATCH:
--Simon Gagne (concussion) was put on injured reserve on Dec. 28 and is out indefinitely.
--Scott Parse (hip) was put on injured reserve on Nov. 9 and underwent surgery on Dec. 2. Parse will be out until at least early April and might be out for the season.
GOALTENDERS:
--Jonathan Quick
--Jonathan Bernier
DEFENSE PAIRINGS:
--Rob Scuderi, Drew Doughty
--Willie Mitchell, Slava Voynov
--Alec Martinez, Matt Greene
FIRST LINE:
--LW Dustin Brown, C Anze Kopitar, RW Justin Williams
SECOND LINE:
--LW Dwight King, C Mike Richards, RW Jeff Carter
THIRD LINE:
-- LW Dustin Penner, C Jarret Stoll, RW Trevor Lewis
FOURTH LINE:
--LW Kyle Clifford, C Colin Fraser, RW Jordan Nolan
