Robinson Likes Upbeat Attitude

After 18 games a year ago, the Kings were riding high with an 8-5-5 record before collapsing and missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season. This season, the Kings are 8-7-3, and Coach Larry Robinson is more optimistic than he was last year.

“We had guys who looked like they didn’t want to be here,” said Robinson about last season’s team, which included several veterans no longer with the team. “We had a lot of guys playing our system but they weren’t committed to the system.”

This season’s team is different in that not only are the players working better with each other during games but also in practice.

“We had guys who were happy last year but I don’t know if it was true happiness,” Robinson said. “We’re so much more upbeat now. More sincere. Last year, we had guys who couldn’t wait until practice was over before they all took off in different ways. . . . This year, the guys truly enjoy each other.”

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Not only did the Kings gain an important 4-1 victory over Toronto on Thursday night, but they also received a strong game from veterans Eddie Olczyk, Kevin Stevens and Ray Ferraro, who combined for three goals and two assists.

“I will be very, very happy if they can contribute like that every night, but it is not my uppermost priority to have them scoring, it is to have them leading,” Robinson said about his veteran players. “As long as they are playing well, the goals will come. If they are not scoring and they let that bother them, which at certain occasions has been the case, then they are not of any help to us at all. I don’t look at it as if they score that they played a good game. They could get a goal and still play a horrible game at the same time.”

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The Kings leave for Chicago today and will play the Blackhawks Sunday at noon in the first game of a three-game road trip . . . . Defenseman Jaroslav Modry, who has not been activated in recent games, worked for nearly 20 minutes after Friday’s practice with Robinson on improving his shooting.