Murray: Kopitar showing improvement

It's been a few games since Terry Murray went public saying that Anze Kopitar needed to elevate his game. Has it worked? Kopitar didn't record a point Thursday, but in his previous three games he had one goal and five assists. Kopitar still doesn't seem to be the dynamic type of player he was last season, but I wanted to get Terry Murray's thoughts on whether Kopitar is making strides...

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Question: It's been a little while now since you talked about the need for Kopitar to elevate his game. Have you seen improvements there?

MURRAY: ``What I've noticed is, and it's difficult to say this after last night, because I know he played upward of 22, 23 minutes last night, but since we last spoke about it, I've been trying to make sure his minutes-played are in that 18-minute area. It seems to me that his play, and the line's play, has responded and played better as a result of fewer minutes. They're of a higher quality. The work has been there but I guess the execution, the being able to get accomplished from what you'd like to see from your No. 1 line, is happening on a more consistent shift-to-shift basis now. I'm seeing more from the line here, from the O-zone time they have played. They're stronger on the puck, cycling and generating chances, generating pucks to the net, attacking with possession now more consistently. They're really trying to be more of a threat on a shift-to-shift basis, and that's an attitude that I really like from a line that is to be, quote, your number one line. They're the guys that you look to, at any particular time, to take the game over and make things happen. That attitude seems to be coming to the surface more in a game-to-game situation now. It's good stuff.''

Question: What you're talking about, with keeping the minutes down, is that a legs thing? A mental thing?

MURRAY: ``It's just a work load that... It's very hard to play at a pace that we are asking our top line to play at, if you get extended into the mid-20s, 22 or 23 minutes per night. Because of the schedule and the traveling that you have to go through, playing the four lines and cutting back the minutes to 18 or so seems to me to be the best thing, to allow them to be a more effective line, and we hope he can be a more effective player for us. The bottom line is, he's a stronger player with the puck, and also on the defensive side of things I've seen a better hockey player. His reads are sharper. He's executing with the proper positioning in our D-zone and he's very responsible.''