Desperation becomes defending Cup champs
Justin Williams has his name on the Stanley Cup three times and won the Conn Smythe Trophy last spring in leading the Los Angeles Kings past the New York Rangers.
With that in the past, the pending unrestricted free agent who earned the reluctant moniker of “Mr. Game 7” is more concerned about the playoff games he and the Kings might not get to play next month.
“My focus is straight ahead, right on this team and not having that sticker next to your name as the Stanley Cup champs that didn’t qualify for the playoffs the next season,” Williams said.
Despite winning the first two games of their road trip, the Kings woke up Wednesday out of a playoff position in the competitive Western Conference. Desperation seems to suit this team well, and players are confident they’ll get the job done and get in.
“Everybody realizes that we play the best hockey when we’re desperate and when we have a lot of emotions poured into games,” centre Anze Kopitar said. “It’s to that point in the season standingswise and points- wise that we have to have better games.”
The Kings beat the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers on back- to- back nights in rematches of the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup Final. They visit the New York Islanders on Thursday before see- ing the red- hot Minnesota Wild and 2013 Cup- champion Chicago Blackhawks to finish out their trip.
Defenceman Drew Doughty said he and his teammates are treating the rest of the regular season like the playoffs, where the Kings have a .640 winning percentage dating back to 2012. The difference now is they need to pick up points and worry about what other teams, namely the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets, are doing elsewhere.
“It’s just different, for sure,” Doughty said. “When ( in the) playoffs, the intensity picks up because if you lose you’re going home and no one wants to go home. So that’s the way we’ve got to look at it: We’re going home if we don’t win all these games, and we’ve got to treat every single game that way, and if we do I think we’ll win a lot.”
The Kings seem the most comfortable in situations like this when they need to win or go home. But this isn’t an ideal hole to be in with nine games left.
“Trust me, we’re not,” Williams said.