Thoughts from March 10 Practice   Thoughts from March 11 Practice

Some news and notes from today's practice:

- Mike Fisher took a "maintenance day" during today's on-ice session. Coach Trotz reiterated that Fisher will play tomorrow night vs. Los Angles.


- Lines from today's practice:
White: Legwand centering Erat and Ward
Yellow: Smithson centering Halischuk and Hornqvist
Gray: Spaling centering Kostitsyn and Wilson
Green: Geoffrion centering Dumont and Tootoo


- It was a spirited practice today, with the coaches pushing the players hard through the session -- stressing that they wanted to see the team practice like they play. Coach Trotz whistled drills to a stop on a handful of occassions to re-focus the intensity of drills.


- Kevin Klein's game has picked up this homestand. Quietly Klein ranks sixth in the NHL in blocked shots. Coach Trotz on Klein: "I think when he's playing really well, you don't notice him. In a lot of ways he does a lot of the same things that Danny Hamhuis did for us -- when you didn't notice him he was really effective and when you did it was probably for the wrong reasons. Klein has a quiet efficient game."


- Coach Trotz was pleased with the way Blake Geoffrion has responded the past two games after he was removed from the lineup for the March 8 game and had considered sliding him to the wing on a higher line late last game. "He played really well. I cut down the rotation to stablize in the third period. I was going to move him to the wall, and then there were a couple of penalties called and all of a sudden I looked up and the game was under six minutes and he hadn't played in a while, so I didn't want to throw him in cold. But I was pleased with the response he showed."


- Tomorrow night's game will mark the first time Jonathon Blum (from Long Beach, CA) will face a SoCal team. He played at San Jose on Nashville's last road trip, "That was a great experience. I had 13 people drive up for the game. It was nice to be able to play in front of them. I actually saw a game probably 10 years ago when I played in a minor tournament out there; I never thought I'd actually get a chance to play an NHL game in that building, so it was a pretty cool experience."

But tomorrow night's game will hold a different appeal, "The game will probably be broadcast back home on the local channels so all my friends and family will be able to watch. And the Kings were one of my favorite organizations when I was growing up. I used to watch them every night they played."