News Clips 2-17-18 FROM LA KINGS INSIDER: “Drury obviously was huge – a huge player I looked up to,” Iafallo said. February 16, 2017 By: Josh Cooper Iafallo has been one of the more pleasant surprises Iafallo Looking Forward To First NHL Game In for the Kings this season with 19 points in 55 games Buffalo while averaging 15:48 of ice-time per-game. Los Angeles signed Iafallo as a college free agent last Forward Alex Iafallo understands the decision by summer and he has found himself on Anze his parents to not attend his first NHL game at the Kopitar’s line for most of the season, often using his Buffalo Sabres. speed to hunt down pucks on the forecheck. Iafallo’s sister, Julianna, is a hockey player at Ohio “I’m just trying to go with things, you know, State and they opted to go to her senior weekend making sure that I’m always staying positive and instead. Plus they’ve been to several other games he making sure that I’m not being negative,” Iafallo has played with the Kings, so he figured it was OK said. “Obviously I worked hard for this and I have for them to skip this one. to keep working hard and keep learning obviously.” “They had to make a decision, a tough one,” said As for Saturday, the team doesn’t seem worried Alex, a native of nearby Eden, N.Y. “I’d rather have about the requests for Iafallo’s time in his home them be with my sister, it’s her senior weekend.” area. He has proven himself to be a solid pro all year and shown an ability to concentrate on Still, Iafallo will have a large group of family at performing at a high level in any situation. Key Bank Center. He said there will be two buses taking people from his dad’s bar/restaurant in “To me at the end of the day, he’s done a really Hamburg, N.Y. to Buffalo for the 10 a.m. (Pacific good job of just focusing on the task at hand,” time) game between the Kings and Sabres. Coach John Stevens said. “He understands what he needs to do to be a good player and I’m sure if “Pretty big, you know,” Iafallo said when asked anything he’s motivated and excited to play in front about his ticket request list for the game. “A lot of of his family and friends here.” important people I want at the game and especially seeing them after and giving hugs and telling them Adam Pantozzi/NHLI ‘thanks for coming,’ it’ll be a really fun night tomorrow.” February 16, 2017 Iafallo said he played some youth games between By: Josh Cooper periods at Key Bank Center and a few “serious February 16: Kings Hope To Break Buffalo games” in the arena, but clearly his first NHL game Losing Streak in the building carries different significance. The Kings held an optional skate at Key Bank “I always had it circled. I’ve always wanted to play Center today in advance of Saturday’s 10 a.m. game in my hometown and play in front of my friends and at the Buffalo Sabres. family,” Iafallo said. “It’s definitely an honor and I have to keep doing my job to stay up and keep There was not much new to report other than Alex producing like you said.” Iafallo was the most popular person in the Kings locker room from a media perspective. Iafallo is Iafallo grew up watching the Sabres and listed his from nearby Eden, New York and his dad owns a favorite Buffalo players as Chris Drury, Stu Barnes, bar close to where the Buffalo Bills play. We’ll J.P. Dumont, Derek Roy and Dominik Hasek. have more on Iafallo later. The Kings have not won at the Sabres since Feb. 21, so we know we have to be ready because they’re 2003. On that date Zigmund Palffy scored two goals probably saying ‘this is the game that can turn it and Jamie Storr made 31 saves as the Kings around for us’ so we have to be ready to go prevailed 4-1. Overall the Kings have lost eight tomorrow.” straight games at Buffalo. The only player from that game still in the NHL is Anaheim Ducks goaltender – Lastly, check out Michael Amadio’s dad talking Ryan Miller. about his son’s first NHL goal. You can check out the boxscore here if you want to take a trip down Kings memory lane. February 16, 2017 By: Josh Cooper “We’re not worried about a losing streak, we’re Stevens On Penalty Kill Strategy, Practice Day trying to get two points because we need them Preparation desperately,” Kings forward Dustin Brown said. Below are quotes from Kings Coach John Stevens Notes following today’s practice at Key Bank Center. A small group of players skated and many worked out – The Kings are now officially over halfway off the ice. through their seven-game road-trip and a lot of the good vibes from the start of the trip have gone away On what the guys on ice were doing in regards to with three straight losses. The Kings currently have preparation: a 1-3-0 record on this trip, their only win coming in I don’t know if I describe it as preparation. Today’s the first game at the Florida Panthers. The team has preparation is about being ready to play tomorrow, tried to take an even-keel approach, though they so it’s important to get some touches just to get a understand if the losses continue to mount, the little bit of a sweat on and just really stay sharp for season could get away from them. tomorrow. “It’s definitely not the best start to our road-trip but On the penalty kill and if its struggles are we’re also only three points out. We’ve been schematic or personnel related: through this, I’ve been through this before, where Well, the personnel has changed quite a bit with the you have to play good hockey down the stretch to different pieces of our lineup. I mean Trevor Lewis get in,” Brown said. “We saw a little bit of that last going out is a big piece. (Nick Shore) when he was year when we were chasing and three points became here was a part of the PK and (Mitchell) has come six points, became 12 points and it is what it is, on board. (Thompson) we think can be a good right? It’s just being aware on a day-to-day basis penalty killer but I think our penalty kill has fallen where you are in the standings. Again, there’s still a off lately. I actually thought it took a step last night lot of hockey to play this year so it’s a matter of and turned into a lot more aggressive, challenging preparing to play better.” entries more, spending less time in our zone. I just thought the urgency was there last night. I thought – The Sabres come in to Saturday’s game as a team the guys were a little better positioned in the shot playing well. Though Buffalo has the NHL’s lanes but at the end of the day the big thing with the second-worst record, the Sabres have gone 3-1-1 in penalty kill is not taking as many. We took four last their last five. night against the top power play in the league and the fourth one kills you, so at the end of the day “We want to continue to win here and build that we’d like to keep that number down to two or three winning environment down the stretch. It’s a great at the most, but when we do have a penalty we want challenge for our group,” Sabres Coach Phil it to be momentum for our hockey team and I think Housley said. “There’s a lot of teams that we’re that number one thing is a sense of urgency and playing are either in the playoffs or in playoff removing the hesitation. So we’ve gone back over – contention so we understand where our opponent is we have a set of rules we run by just as a little bit of a structure and discipline there that makes sure there’s a really good understanding and try and remove some of the hesitation and get a little more aggressive when we have an opportunity to pressure the puck. Quotes on Alex Iafallo’s return to his home area withheld for later story Lead photo via Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire FROM LATIMES.COM February 16, 2017 By: Curtis Zupke Kings' Alex Iafallo gives more than old-college try in surprising rookie season One day Tom Iafallo looked out at his backyard and realized it needed a renovation, or maybe an upgrade. His son, Alex, and daughter, Julianna, had taken to shooting pucks and street hockey balls on the tennis court paved in the rear of their home in Eden, a small suburb south of Buffalo. "I said, 'We've got to get a rink,'" he said. "At the time it was a big ordeal. But I thought it was important." So Iafallo set about building one, using 4-feet-by-8-feet plywood as the boards. It was "nothing crazy," Julianna said, but it did its job for countless after-school sessions.