Darryl Sutter

Jonathan Quick was the first goalie to leave the ice Friday after practice at El Segundo, generally the right of the next game's starter. It was mildly surprising, considering that Jonathan Bernier had shut out Minnesota on Thursday, but to Coach Darryl Sutter - who doesn't disclose his starter - it made perfect sense. "We trust them both. We have to do it that way," Sutter said. "With 11 games left we want them both to be consistent and we'll definitely need them both.

Glendale, ARIZ. - Greetings from Jobing.com Arena, where the Kings held their morning skate in advance of Tuesday's game against the Coyotes. Jonathan Quick was the first goaltender off the ice and is expected to start. Winger Jordan Nolan will return to the lineup in place of Dustin Penner, who sustained a lower-body injury Sunday at Dallas. Nolan was skating alongside Kyle Clifford and Brad Richardson on the fourth line. Newly acquired defenseman Robyn Regehr was not with the team.

This wasn't quite like last season when Kings Coach Darryl Sutter declared in February that the partnership of Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown had grown stale, essentially calling out the duo. Instead, Sutter went fairly in-depth on Friday and took some blame in further discussing the recent struggles of the Brown-Kopitar-Justin Williams line. Brown has one assist in his last four games, and Williams has scored twice in his last 11 games but also has 10 assists. "If you look at Kopitar's line last night, they probably played two or three minutes too much," Sutter said after practice.

The line on Tyler Toffoli 's first NHL game read like this: 13 minutes 20 seconds played, 19 shifts, one shot on goal, plus two attempts blocked and four missed. It was a modest debut for the Kings' rookie forward, but it passed muster with the only man that matters, Coach Darryl Sutter . Sutter is well known for practicing tough love when it comes to young players, but he also believes in giving them opportunities - and Toffoli had a good one Saturday in the Kings' 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks, lining up alongside Mike Richards and Jeff Carter on the second line.

Jake Muzzin had only an instant to react when he saw Kings teammate Colin Fraser get leveled by a check from San Jose's Andrew Desjardins in the second period Thursday. The contact looked to be shoulder-to-shoulder and Fraser went down hard. "I thought he was hurt, so I wanted to take action. It happened quick," said Muzzin, the Kings' rookie defenseman. Luckily for the Kings, Fraser was fine. Unfortunately, for Muzzin, he was hit with a double minor for instigating, and instigating with a visor, in addition to the five-minute fighting major and 10-minute misconduct.

SAN JOSE - The coach, direct as always, said he hated himself for having to pull goalies during a game, knowing that such a move could be viewed as a bright, shining light of indictment. Unfortunately, Kings Coach Darryl Sutter has had to hate himself two more times since he talked about the care and handling of goalies six weeks ago. Sutter yanked starter Jonathan Quick at 8:34 of the second period after the Sharks broke out and established a 3-0 lead. He replaced him with Jonathan Bernier.

The Kings were eventually going to take a decent, up-close look at promising forward Tyler Toffoli, but his arrival in Los Angeles was hastened by a look at the statistics. Kings Coach Darryl Sutter has talked often about the lack of scoring coming from the left side, and expanded on that on Monday after the morning skate. Sutter noted that they were “halfway into the year,” with wingers with one or no goals. Increased competition, from the likes of Toffoli, might jump-start some of the lagging wingers.

Conversations between Darryl Sutter and Miikka Kiprusoff weren't long when Sutter coached the star goalie in Calgary. Sutter, who now coaches the Kings, is almost loquacious compared to the quiet Finn. But Sutter clearly enjoys talking about him and their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004. "Man of few words," Sutter said Friday. "That's why we have such a good relationship, because we know what to expect. It's not hard to figure out, right? Show up. Game day. Go hard. Go home.

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter spent weeks in a Minnesota hospital early in his playing career with the Chicago Blackhawks when he was hit in the face on a shot by teammate Doug Wilson. Sutter had a fractured cheekbone and a damaged left eye. He ended up missing 18 games in that 1983-84 season and was fortunate not to have any lingering issues with his vision. Which is why, for many reasons, his is an important voice on the issue of face shields, a debate sparked earlier this week when New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal sustained an eye injury when he was hit by a puck.

Contrarian Darryl morphed into Complimentary Darryl on Friday morning. Coach Darryl Sutter was taking a big-picture look at his Kings, a group blessed with a home-heavy schedule after having completed a stiff stretch of heavy lifting on the road, 11 of 15 games away. They play 20 of the final 33 games at home in this lockout-shortened season. Sutter can deliver critiques with a blend of blunt wit and sarcasm. Shortcomings remain, to be sure, but he offered a dose of perspective.