Playoffs breathe new life into Kings' Richards

The Los Angeles Times examines how both Mike Richards and Dustin Brown of the Kings had regular seasons they'd rather forget, but the proverbial clean slate came when the playoffs began and each has taken advantage of the chance for a fresh start.

"Probably the last five, 10 games of the season I was more or less counting down the days until it was over and seeing those zeroes on the board," Richards said Friday.

"I feel a lot better now. I'm playing more loose, just kind of doing my thing out there instead of worrying too much and overthinking situations."

He noted, "I just couldn't find any consistency for some reason. You start thinking about it too much and when you're in the minus as a player, you're more focused on trying to stay even and not get scored on than going out there and just play your game and try to get goals.

"That kind of snowballed on me and I got some bad breaks, and you just kind of put yourself in bad positions. The next thing you know, you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Source: Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times