Reported by ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun, Dustin Penner who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season is performing well and contributing on a line with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter this postseason. And the Los Angeles Kings General Manager is quick to credit what the big center is bringing to the King’s playoff table.

“It’s been really important,” General Manager Dean Lombardi told ESPN.com. “The one thing we’ve done the last 20 games here is our secondary scoring has come through, which we didn’t have early in the year and Dustin is a guy we were counting on for that. What you’re also seeing now is that he’s so much more often playing to his size. He’s extremely difficult to play against. He’s made some big plays. It’s not just that he’s started to contribute offensively, but here in the playoffs he’s done it at critical moments.”


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