Kopitar, on the change of fortune

By Rich Hammond on February 15, 2009 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

After practice today, Anze Kopitar talked a bit about the Kings' turnaround this season, why it's more fun to play than at any previous point in his Kings career and why it's important for the Kings to not be satisfied with just being better...

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Question: Winning obviously makes things a lot more fun, but is there anything you can point to, in particular, that makes this season more fun than the last couple years?

KOPITAR: ``I don't know if anything is different. I know it's way more fun to play. It's great to come to the rink knowing that you're going to play for something, not like the previous two years, when we were pretty much out of it by Christmas. Coming to the rink wasn't as much fun, but I don't think it's anything in particular. We play a little bit more defensively, and that wins hockey games.''

Question: Do you have to watch out, at all, for not being satisfied with where you are? Things have improved, but I'm guessing you don't want to be satisfied with just being a little better than last year...

KOPITAR: ``Oh yeah, exactly. I think the potential in this room is big enough to not just be close to the playoffs. I think we have the potential to make the playoffs. We're in that race. I know we're inexperienced and that a lot of guys, like myself, haven't really been through this phase. It's new for us, but we've got to win hockey games. That's what is most important. I think that always, when you play for something it's a lot more fun than knowing that, in the end, you're going to fall short. Our focus is game-by-game right now, and we're trying to win those.''

Question: After a lot of shuffling, Terry seems to have found a set of lines that he likes. Does that help you guys, to be able to settle in a little bit?

KOPITAR: ``Yeah, I think it does help. Before, Terry was mixing a lot of the lines. We all do play the same system, but sometimes it just takes a while to get used to guys. Now, with Fro and Sully, I think we have a little chemistry going now. The last couple games, we didn't score a whole lot of goals, but the chances are there, so I'm pretty sure that one of these days, things are going to open up for us and something is going to go in.''

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.