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They’re All Feeling Good

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Times Staff Writer

There were plenty of smiles to go around during the Kings’ morning skate in El Segundo on Friday. Coming off a two-game stretch in which they were outscored 14-2, Thursday’s wild 8-6 victory over Atlanta was a welcome change.

“Its just nice to win again,” said a noticeably relieved Coach Andy Murray.

The Kings produced the eight-goal outburst even though they were without their top two goal scorers, Pavol Demitra (thigh bruise) and Alexander Frolov (flu).

“But we had our top goal scorer of all time,” said Murray, alluding to Luc Robitaille and his record-setting hat trick. “Luc was into it from the get-go, and I double-shifted him at the start of the game because I thought he deserved it. He was playing on two lines.”

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Robitaille’s 15th hat trick gave him 552 goals as a King, breaking Marcel Dionne’s record of 550.

“He’s had an outstanding career and he’s an outstanding King,” said General Manager Dave Taylor, whose 431 goals rank third on the Kings’ list. “Now he’s No. 1 in goals, where he belongs.”

Said Robitaille: “I just took a peek at my voice mail, and there are about 45 voice mails that I still haven’t checked yet.”

His big night eclipsed an outstanding offensive performance by defenseman Mattias Norstrom.

“I joked with him at the end of the game, ‘Man, you got a career-high five points and you still can’t get first star of the game. That’s not fair,’ ” Robitaille said.

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Demitra continues to receive acupuncture treatment for a severe lower thigh bruise that has kept him out of the lineup since mid-December.

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“They stuck about 10 needles in me,” he said. “But I did feel better afterward. It helped.”

Jeremy Roenick (broken finger) and Aaron Miller (back) could be back in the lineup by the end of the month. Eric Belanger is still out with a groin injury.

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TODAY

vs. San Jose, 3 p.m., Channel 4

Site -- Staples Center. Radio -- 710.

Records -- Kings 29-18-2, Sharks 21-17-6.

Record vs. Sharks -- 1-2-0.

Update -- San Jose forward Jonathan Cheechoo leads the team with 25 goals and has a career-high 10-game scoring streak (nine goals, eight assists).

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Staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this report.

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