Sidelined Jake Muzzin is dazzled by Kings young forwards

Compliment of the day — delivered to youngsters Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli — from one of their elders, Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin.

“They’re sick,” Muzzin said. “Last night was pretty cool.”

Muzzin, by the way, is 25, three years older than the two flashy kid forwards. Pearson, Toffoli and center Jeff Carter combined for six points in the Kings’ 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

“You go through the minors with these guys and play against them in junior,” Muzzin said. “To watch them grow into the players that they’re growing into right now is exciting to watch.

“Just take a seat and watch because it might be a show for a while.”

The conversation with Muzzin started with his own status. He suffered an upper-body injury late in preseason and has missed the first three regular-season games and essentially ruled himself out of the lineup until “maybe later this week.”

He is so eager to get going that he participated maybe a little too much during an optional practice Monday in El Segundo.

“I probably shouldn’t have done some of them today,” Muzzin said on team drills. “You’ve just got to wait until it heals so it doesn’t create a bigger issue later on. It’s frustrating. But it happens and you’ve got to deal with it the right way.”

Muzzin said the mood in the room was good Monday. Gradually, the emotional level of the Kings has been improving. Some of the players said it was at a lower ebb than they wanted it to be in the first couple of games.

“I think our focus has been good,” Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said. “It’s just hard getting everybody on there. You don’t get everybody at once but you try to get most of them.”

Said defenseman Robyn Regehr: “It’s been getting better. We’re getting on the right track and we’re going in the right direction. You want guys to get involved.”

Considering what the Kings have been through, playing well into June, it’s no small feat.

“The emotional level is so high at the peak of the playoffs — which was the [Stanley Cup] finals — you come back and it’s really difficult to get it back up where it needs to be right away again,” Regehr said.

“That’s the big challenge. Other teams haven’t played for a long time, so they’re there champing at the bit, ready to roll and we need to get back and get going. That’s really all it is.”

TONIGHT

VS. EDMONTON

When: 7:30

On the air: TV: FS West, Radio: 790.

Etc. One more victory means Sutter could hit a milestone — his 100th regular-season win with the Kings — but it seems more like a formality since he passed that mark long ago, if you factor in the playoffs. The Kings have won 41 playoff games under Sutter’s watch.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter: @reallisa