from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The Los Angeles Kings awoke Wednesday morning with the fourth most points in the National Hockey League, but who’s kidding whom? No team ahead of L.A. — Dallas, Washington or St. Louis — scares anyone as much as the club that won Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, and is back for more in 2016.

There’s a pattern here that the Kings aim to extend, with Chicago and Los Angeles having taken turns winning the last four Stanley Cups. It’s the Kings’ turn again this year, and after missing the playoffs last spring it is a super-focused group that opened up an 11-point lead in the Pacific Division with a 5-2 win at Edmonton Tuesday.

“Our mindset is different,” said captain Dustin Brown, a bloody bandage glued under his right nostril post-game. “In years past we had been able to turn it on when we needed to, and last year we thought we could do that and we didn’t. When you’re not playing in May and June, when you’re used to it, it’s not a very good feeling. Guys came back with a different mindset.

“A little more pissed off.”

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