Frozen Royalty: Los Angeles Kings Need More From Scott Parse, Dustin Penner, Less From Drew Doughty

Here’s your latest from Gann Matsuda at Frozen Royalty – News and Views on the Los Angeles Kings and National Hockey League. Gann focuses on two rough edges in the Kings’ offense – Scott Parse and Dustin Penner, and how their contributions outweigh those of Drew Doughty’s right now. Capped off with a quick update on Simon Gagne’s return to the Kings lineup tonight.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Eleven games into the 2011-12 National Hockey League season, the Los Angeles Kings have a 6-3-2 record, placing them second in the Pacific Division, and fourth in the Western Conference, through games played on November 3.

In other words, although things could be better, especially in the attacking zone, there are a lot of positives for the Kings at this point in the season.

“I feel good about the start of the year, very good, actually,” said head coach Terry Murray. “When I take into consideration how the schedule was for us, through the week before we went to Europe, it was very busy. [We played five games in seven nights], then, we go overseas, we had a couple of games over there, and then make the adjustment to come back to the East Coast. That was demanding in itself. That was a big test, and I was very, very concerned about it during the off-season, looking at that part of the schedule.”

“How fast do you get re-adjusted? I’ve never done that before as the coach of a team,” added Murray. “I did it as a player, but you never pay attention to it. You just do it. I’ve seen where teams come back, and have a tough time getting back on track, settled in, getting the fatigue out of the way, and start to play the game at the right pace again. But I really like the way we handled the schedule here. Emotionally, the players understood what it was all about, and prepared themselves very well.”

Although the Kings only managed to break even on their last three games, going 1-1-1 on a three-game road trip to Dallas, Phoenix and Colorado, Murray was not disappointed with his team’s performance.

“Our game, going into this last road trip that started in Dallas, was high energy,” he explained. “There was compete, great pace to the game, we were playing a very good game going into Dallas, and we wound up winning it.”

“There was a nice continuation over the next two games,” he elaborated. “We only got the one point. Still, coming out of Colorado, I felt good about it. I was proud of the way the players played—three [games] in four nights.”

“I’m very pleased with how the early part of the season has unfolded for us.”

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