Came across this gem of a quote on the audio recorder from Kings captain Dustin Brown, who credited the play of young defensemen, including Slava Voynov, for the team’s recent surge in scoring. They are passing the puck more efficiently to the forwards and also contributing scoring, where everyone was coming up (almost) empty to start the season.

“(Voynov) is playing at a really high level,” Brown said after the Kings’ victory Monday over the Calgary Flames. “It’s an opportunity from the start of the year with Greener (Matt Greene) and Mitchie (Willie Mitchell) going out of the lineup (with prolonged injuries) for him to step up and solidify his spot on this team. Right now, he’s playing at a high level, which is a big part of our success.

“If you look at our scoring totals lately, and it is high for us, a lot of it is because of our defensemen. Not only Slava, but Drew (Doughty), Muzz (Jake Muzzin) and Marty (Alec Martinez) are jumping up and keeping pucks in (the attacking zone). You can see it in our offensive zone play. They’re getting more involved on the walls. As a winger, that’s one of the hardest things to cover. Now that we’re doing more of it, you’re starting to see more opportunities on the offensive side of the puck.”