Justin Williams’ “lower-body issue” and tidbits from the Kings’ morning skate
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NHL teams usually divulge as little information about players’ injuries as possible -- a practice league executives not only endorse but encourage.
But it was impossible to miss Justin Williams’ limp as he went from the training room to the locker room Thursday after the top-line right winger sustained what Coach Terry Murray called ‘a lower-body issue’ late in Thursday’s game-day skate.
Murray said the injury occurred during the last drill the team was performing in the 28-minute practice. He said Trevor Lewis is likely to replace Williams but wasn’t sure. He also said he didn’t think the injury would keep Williams out beyond Thursday.
‘I’m a little hesitant when a player gets injured, to break up another line to move a player to that spot,’ Murray said. ‘I generally like to keep my second [and] third lines the same in this kind of a situation and move another player into that spot. Saying that, it could be Lewis.’
His other option, he said, was Peter Harrold, who has alternated between defense and the wing. But Murray later said it was possible Alexander Frolov, restored to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the Kings’ previous game, might see some time with Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar on the first line. Teddy Purcell and Dustin Brown also are candidates, though that would disrupt every line except the fourth line.
‘Fro on the right side, I don’t mind him on the right side. I thought he did a good job when we used him there last year, so that’s a possibility,’ Murray said. ‘Mentioning Purcell, I think he kind of complements that style of play, wtih possession and making some plays in the offensive zone.’
Hand it to Stoll
Center Jarret Stoll, troubled by arthritis in his right wrist during training camp, said the decline in his faceoff success from last season to this season isn’t due to any problems with his hand.
The wrist feels fine, he said Thursday morning after the team’s game-day skate, though the numbers suggest otherwise. Last season he won 57% of his faceoffs, but in the first nine games this season he won only 47.1% of the draws he took.
The numbers, he said, don’t mean much. ‘They’re not great yet but I have a lot of confidence that they’ll get up there,’ he said. ‘I’m not too worried about the ffaceoff part of it. i’ve just got to be a little more consistent. I’ve had some good games and some really bad games. It’s just a matter of being able to be consistent with it. The hand’s okay.’
He also said he looked forward to having Wayne Simmonds on his right side Thursday against Dallas at Staples Center, one of the changes made by Murray when he decided to restore Frolov to the lineup.
‘I actually played a lot with him in training camp last year,’ Stoll said of Simmonds. ‘He’s obviously strong on the puck and he’d be good for the cycle down low, getting our feet moving down low, getting pucks to the net.’
Simmonds’ defensive skills should also help the line, whose third member was to be Purcell.
‘He doesn’t make too many mistakes. You know what you’re going to get, that’s the main thing,’ Stoll said of Simmonds. ‘He’s a young guy but he seems to get it. He’s confident with the puck, too. He skates with it, he makes plays with it. The main thing is he’s strong on the puck.’
More later at www.latimes.com/sports
-- Helene Elliott