Friday, April 23, 2010

Robitaille tells NHL Radio the Kings aren't panicking

This afternoon Luc Robitaille was on the NHL Power Play radio show. Here are the key highlights:

* We're real happy with the way the young guys have been playing in this series.

* When did things really start to come together for this team? When Dean Lombardi was hired he preached patience to the ownership. The first few years were painful. Bringing in high character guys has made a big difference. The young core is going to carry us for a long time.

* On Doughty's Norris nomination - Great speed and size. The way he reads the game makes the big difference. When he has the puck you always feel he has things under control. He has something you can't teach. He's an all around player that can do it all - he can be the best player on the power play, then turn around and be your best penalty killer too.

* People make a big deal about the youth of the Kings - how will they rebound from that 3rd period in game four when Vancouver took over? We think the team played well, they just made a few mistakes. We need to keep a man high. We need to be responsible in our own end. When you make a mistake against the league's leading scorer, eventually he's going to score. The game came down to a few mistakes and a few of those ended up in our net. I don't think there is any panic on our side. We always knew we were going to have to perform well on the road in this series. We would have loved to win in Wednesday...but we didn't. We had a great scoring chance with Frolov on a breakaway...if he scores, it's game over. I expect a real tight game tonight and we've been real good in those type of games this year.

* Some people questioned giving the C to Dustin Brown at such a young age. What is he maturing into on and off the ice? He has been great for our organization. He's the kind of player that every day he's your hardest worker. He's one of the few players that with one body check can turn a game around. It's very rare that you do that - it's really hard for forwards to lead the league in hits...and he's always in the top three. It's truly amazing the way he plays. He's one of those typical power forward - but with high skill. He reminds me of Adam Deadmarsh - he goes all out, real hard to the net...every time he hits someone you think he's going to hurt them because he hits so hard. Building the team and the character we wanted to have, it was very important for us to have a guy like that at the core of our leadership.

* The power play has been clicking lately. How do you explain the success? The movement of our defenseman has been key. When you have young defenseman that can move at the blueline that much, it's very hard to kill a penalty. Obviously, there have been a few goals that have gone in almost like they had a set of eyes. But, at the end of the day, if you can get it through it creates chances. Doughty and Johnson have been able to get it through and that's been a huge help to the power play.

* They also talked a little about Luc winning gold at the 1994 World Championships for Team Canada, his son Jessarae and how the Hall of Fame (hasn't) changed him. Small chit-chat, nothing major.

The Mayor
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1 comment:

  1. I found your site quite by accident, and have since read two of the interviews you've conducted (Ethan and Chad Moreau). Each was informative and entertaining. I'll be reading more! Keep up the good work.

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