Kompon 9/26 postgame

(Talk about the experience the Kings have had here playing these two games in this tournament...)

It was a great experience. It was a little different, playing on the bigger ice surface, that's for sure, and with that you've got to kind of adjust your game a little bit. With that, it becomes a little tougher. In the first game, we got our feet wet and we knew what we had to do and we just went out and executed in the second part of the game. Tonight, I thought we played really well and it's great to see the guys bonding together and having dinners together. Being on the road, that's where you get your close-knit team and that's how you build teams right there.

(As coaches, do you prepare differently playing on a larger surface?)

No, I think our focus and our preparation was all about Anaheim. We wanted to do the things that are going to make us successful when we have to play Anaheim in London on Saturday and Sunday. I think our focus was on that, and how we get through that is by playing solid games and playing our systems and working at it and making sure we're all on the same page when it comes time on Saturday for the puck to drop. We know what we have to do.

(Do you feel like the team has made some good strides in terms of forming some line combinations?)

Yeah, for sure. We got a chance to see Kopitar's line, with Cammalleri and Brown, and Armstrong with Calder and Willsie. With Fro being out, Wills has stepped in and done a nice job there. With Michal being out, it kind of hindered that third line or second line, 2A or 2B, however you want to look at it, with Nagy and Sully. We got an opportunity to see a bunch of different line combinations and get some chemistry developed as we move forward.

(How much does the game differ over here?)

Oh, it's totally different. There's so much flow and so much motion. Last night we saw, and tonight we saw it too, is that nobody ever gets the puck standing still. They're always in motion. They're always swinging, swooping, coming back on their regroups. It's never a straight line, it's always a criss-cross and a delay. You just have to hold your position and stay in your lanes and not be mesmerized by all the motion.

(I guess you have to be pleased by the way the team battled back in both games after early deficits...)

Absolutely. We showed a lot of character last night. The hometown crowd, they got behind them, and being down 3-0 and coming back from a deficit like that and taking it to them... Then, not to have a nail-biter right down to the end... And then tonight, playing against a good Swedish team, we had our hands full and we executed the way we were supposed to and we came out ahead.