Tyler Toffoli stepping up to spark Kings offense
LOS ANGELES -- At the start of October, the Los Angeles Kings looked lost, confused and ineffective.
They came out of the gate 0-3, giving up 12 goals to only two scored, and goaltender Jonathan Quick looked like a shell of the Conn Smythe winner he was just a few years ago.
Slowly but surely, though, the Kings have started to find their way. A 3-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night gave them their fourth consecutive victory. Center Tyler Toffoli has scored in all four of those games, becoming the offensive spark the Kings desperately needed. His six tallies on the season account for nearly half the team’s (13) total.
“Scoring goals is obviously fun,” Toffoli said after Friday’s game. “But we know as a group we want to win games. (Anze Kopitar) scored a huge goal for us in the third (period), and I think that really killed (the Hurricanes') momentum. They had a really good second period there at the end, and we held (off) their push.”
With key offensive veterans including Justin Williams, Jarrett Stoll and Mike Richards exiting for the Kings in the offseason, younger guys such as Toffoli knew they would be tasked with stepping up. When Kings starters Kopitar, Milan Lucic and Marian Gabroik had trouble finding a rhythm early on, 23-year-old Toffoli was able to pick up where he left off nearly a year ago.
“He was (an offensive power) last year, too,” Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said. “He’s probably just building on last year. He went down with mono and struggled after that. But he’s healthy and strong and feels good now.”
Toffoli was struck by the mono virus in January while tied for second on the Kings with 12 goals. He finished his 2014-15 campaign with 23 goals, the third-highest total on the team, but knows he could have done more. The Kings signed him to a two-year, $6.5 million contract this offseason, and Toffoli got reassurance that the club saw him as a piece for the future. But far from looking ahead, Toffoli’s attention is firmly trained on the now and the little things that have navigated the Kings out of a potentially damaging early slump.
“I think (we’re) being more sharp now,” he said. “The pressure on the backcheck has been a lot better, making (our opponents) have to turn it up. And our defense has done a great job of getting (the puck) out of our zone.
“(For me), I’m trying to find different ways to score goals. You have to find new way (every time), and that’s what I’m trying to do right now. Right now it’s working pretty well for me, and I just have to keep after it and keep working hard.”
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