Following the LA Kings victory over the Golden Knights on Sunday, Todd McLellan addressed Matt Roy’s contract extension and what comes next.
While it wasn’t a must-win game, the LA Kings entered Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Vegas Golden Knights sixth place in the West Division and seven points out of a playoff spot. The Kings had failed to record a win again Vegas this season in three tries. However, Todd McLellan’s group was in control of the game for 40 minutes, taking a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
“It felt a little bit different on the bench tonight,” McLellan said. “The start, the other night, I think we waited for something to happen. It did, and then we got going again, tied it up, and then we waited again. Tonight was different. I thought we played really good 40 minutes, and then we knew their push was coming. They’re top in the league for a reason, and they threw everything they had at us – five on threes, and a lot of momentum was gained when you’re playing in the other team’s zone like that.”
The Kings got goals from Sean Walker and Dustin Brown, both assisted by Anze Kopitar. In a critical moment of the game, the Kings killed off a 5-on-3 man advantage for Vegas early in the third period. The Golden Knights eventually got on the board, an odd deflection of Tomas Nosek’s body that got past Cal Petersen.
Just watch this Jeff Carter highlight ⤵️ https://t.co/apttksOzRa
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 22, 2021
However, the LA Kings responded quickly with Jeff Carter and Andreas Athanasiou catching Vegas playing overly aggressive. The former skated on a partial breakaway, beating Marc-Andre Fleury and sealing the Kings 3-1 victory over a team that’s quickly become a rival.
Before Sunday’s game, the Kings locked up defenseman Matt Roy to a three-year contract extension, and Todd McLellan spoke about the expectations for the 26-year-old going forward.
On Matt Roy‘s game against the Golden Knights
First of all, his game tonight was very good – all five defensemen were put in a tough spot to play against a bigger, heavier team, a very skilled team like that from basically with 18 minutes left in the first period on.
On Roy’s extension
He deserves every little bit of it, and you know we have a ton of confidence in him. I think he feels comfortable here with the group, and much like Walker, they’ll get an opportunity to grow and get better as the team gets better.
On expectations from Roy going forward
With the reward now comes a lot more responsibility, and that’s part of becoming a veteran in the league; as you move up in contract years, you also move up and responsibility years. We will expect more from him will expect more from Walker and anybody else that continues to grow with our organization.
LA Kings Schedule
The Kings will turn around and play again on Monday against San Jose. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm PT.