Nice Night for Murray, Kings in Tie

The rest of the Kings had been here, well most of them, and most of them had played on teams that had beaten the Red Wings.

The Kings did it twice last season.

Their leader, though, was a bit awe-struck.

Andy Murray did everything but thank Detroit for allowing him into Joe Louis Arena without paying Wednesday night.

“We battled . . . I’m coaching against Scotty Bowman, what a thrill!” said Murray, who has nine NHL wins, one more than Bowman has Stanley Cups.

Then everybody connected with the Red Wing franchise, everybody who chronicles Detroit games for any sort of Michigan and nearby Canadian media, left the room.

Enough social graces.

A point for a 1-1 tie was nice, but “that would have been nice for [Brad] Chartrand to score,” Murray said. “That would have been the way to end that trip, eh?

“We had it too. Another inch and it would have been in.”

With Detroit on a power play and 28 seconds left in regulation, Chartrand took a pass from Glen Murray and found himself with only Red Wing goalie Chris Osgood as an impediment to heroism and resultant emotional deflation of the announced 19,983 on hand.

Oh, Osgood and some pipe.

“That crossbar,” said former King, now Detroit defenseman Steve Duchesne. “Thank you for the post.”

Chartrand knew what he wanted to do.

“I wanted to put it high and on net,” said the rookie, who put it high . . . but inches too high.

Still, the Kings finished a three-game trip through Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit on a high, with five of a possible six points.

“A good trip,” Andy Murray said. “Almost a great trip.”

Ziggy Palffy made it good with six seconds to play in the second period.

To that point, Osgood could have played goalie in a rocking chair. He had time between what passed for Kings’ rushes to use a clicker and change the channel to a sitcom.

Their legs were still in Pittsburgh, and so was their newly developed reputation as the NHL’s most potent offensive team, demonstrated by 49 goals in their first 14 games.

And then Palffy happened.

Again.

Palffy, who had two breakaway goals at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, took a pass from Jozef Stumpel and made it three, making Osgood look silly in the process.

The Kings had gone through a stale first period. They had only four shots and dropped into a 1-0 deficit when Steve Yzerman scored a power-play goal. The best of the shots was a breakaway by Sean O’Donnell, a defenseman playing as a penalty killer and not accustomed to having the puck in open ice near anybody’s goal.

His shot looked like it. Osgood came out to challenge and took the puck on the pads.

Palffy made a mental note.

“I remembered ‘Odie’ in the first period,” said Palffy, who has six goals and also has points in eight of his last nine games.

“Osgood made the save, but he was so [far out on the ice] on the play. I remembered and I put a fake on him and it worked because he was so high.”

O’Donnell was eavesdropping.

“You mean you learned from my shot?” he said. “All right!

“Why didn’t I put a fake on him?”

O’Donnell then mumbled the answer to his own question, the solution having something to do with “my 235 pounds, faking.”

Palffy’s shot finished a play that began when Sergei Fedorov was skating in the neutral zone and dropped a pass to nobody in particular. Mattias Norstrom kicked the puck to Stumpel, who sent it forward to Palffy, who had said goodbye to Nicklas Lidstrom and then took care of Osgood.

Fedorov’s turnover hurt.

“It should have been a 1-0 game,” Bowman said.

Instead, it was a 1-1 tie that the Kings welcomed. It gave them 21 points, tops in the Western Conference along with San Jose.

Detroit . . . well, that’s another story.

“We were disappointed,” Brendan Shanahan said. “A tie against that team right now is pretty good, but we’re built for wins. We’re disappointed we didn’t get one.”

NHL POINT LEADERS

With team, record and total points:

1. TORONTO

10-3-1, 21

1. SAN JOSE

10-5-1, 21

1. KINGS

9-3-3, 21

4. PHOENIX

8-3-3, 19

5. OTTAWA

8-4-1-1, 18

*

DUCKS 3, FLYERS 3

The Ducks got goals from Paul Kariya and Teeme Selanne but let a 3-1 lead in the second period get away. Page 3