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Thursday, December 30, 1999
Kings-sized headache
Lengthy travel day nothing compared to coach Murray's woes
LOS ANGELES -- Andy Murray heard about the Edmonton Oilers' flight plans yesterday that included a three-hour layover in Denver on the way to Los Angeles.
"I wish it was about 12 (hours)," chuckled the rookie head coach of the struggling Kings, who have dropped six in a row including last night's 4-2 defeat in Colorado.
Murray, a down-to-earth and likable bench boss, was obviously more concerned about his club snapping out of the doldrums against the Avalanche than the Oilers itinerary.
But his wish came close as the Oilers' travel day stretched out when their luggage failed to greet them at LAX. The team touched down at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time after boarding their initial flight at 8 a.m. back in Edmonton.
Add a 90-minute wait for baggage that never did materialize until later in the evening, and another half-hour for a bus that had been circling while the baggage hunt was on, and you've got an 11-hour travel day.
Murray will be pleased to find that out today, although his Kings had their own concerns after losing a tough one to the Avalanche, then flying home to face the Oilers tonight.
The Kings, who got both goals from Luc Robitaille in the losing cause last night, kept their margin of defeat to one goal against San Jose (2-1) and Phoenix (3-2 in overtime) last week after embarrassing efforts in New Jersey and New York and at home to Chicago.
All told, the Kings gave up 23 goals in the trio of lopsided defeats.
THREE HORRIFIC GAMES
Just a glitch, Murray hopes.
"We had that stretch where we were just awful," he said of the run of 7-1, 8-3 and 8-4 thrashings. "They were three horrific games, for whatever reason."
It wasn't a case of breaking away from the system either, he stressed.
"It's difficult to say we got away from the game plan because they scored so many goals right away in the first period," he explained of giving up 14 of the 23 tallies in the opening 20 minutes of all three games. "That's the disappointing part about it."
Prior to the slump the Kings were a very respectable bunch and Murray was shocked when the floodgates opened.
"As a coach you can see when you're starting to struggle, you see the signs. Up until those three games we had played a couple of weaker games, but I had no reason to think or foresee it coming," he said prior to last night's game.
"We were second in the league in goals-for, sixth in goals-against, fourth in power play and in the top 12 in penalty killing. The indications were we were playing fairly well."
The bad run did coincide with some key injuries to the likes of offensive leaders Robitaille and Jozef Stumpel.
Still, the Kings found themselves in the upper echelon of the Western Conference, stunning most prognosticators who felt the Oilers could occupy one of the top five positions. In fact Murray himself maintained that belief.
"The Oilers, to me, should be a top-four team in our conference. I really believe they have the potential to be there," he said.
HARD WORKIN' CREW
"They work hard. Kevin (Lowe) has them working that way and we know that there is a lot of potential over there."
WOULDN'T IT BE GRAND: After the six straight losses, the Kings are still looking for win No. 1,000 as an organization ... Stumpel returned from his hernia injury to play against the San Jose Sharks Dec. 22. "I felt good," he said. "I was a little bit nervous at first, but as soon as I hit somebody I felt comfortable."
Y2KAY: The Oilers obtained goalie Kay Whitmore from Boston yesterday in a minor-league deal that saw defenceman Mike Matteucci join the Bruins.
Whitmore, who last played in the NHL during the 1994-95 season with Vancouver, has played 14 games for the Providence Bruins of the AHL and has a 6-6-1 record with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage this season.
Matteucci, who signed with the Oilers as a free agent in September 1998, has one assist and 88 penalty minutes in 29 games with the IHL's Long Beach Ice Dogs.
Both players will remain in the minors.
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