Defenseman Rob Scuderi had an assist and played 19:07 Saturday during his return to the Kings after Friday’s trade from the Chicago Blackhawks. He played 26 shifts and was paired with Alec Martinez to start the game. Near the end, with the Kings hanging onto a 2-0 lead and Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner on the bench in favor of a sixth attacker, Scuderi was on the ice with Drew Doughty.
“It feels good,” Scuderi said. “I know exactly what’s expected of me. It suits my style. I thought I fit in pretty good. There are probably little things I’ve been doing on different teams the last 10 weeks that maybe they’ll iron out and show me in video. But for the most part I felt pretty good about the one game.”
Asked if he expected to play as much as he did, Scuderi said, “I didn’t really expect anything. That’s up to them. As a player, your job is to be prepared physically and mentally, and I was. But as far as how much they use me and how they use me, they’re the coaches, it’s their call.”
Playing at the end with Doughty was “a big confidence boost,” Scuderi said.
“I think the biggest thing that’s been hurting in my game for a couple of months isn’t so much the physicality of it as is the confidence of it, the mental side,” he said. “So, any time you can be used in those types of situations, it gives you a little boost, knowing the coaching staff trusts you to do those things. It goes a long way.”