Hardy Takes Blame for Penalty-Killing Lapse

When Steve Yzerman scored a power-play goal for Detroit on Wednesday night, he was fed by Sergei Fedorov, who beat the Kings’ Rob Blake to the puck.

Yzerman’s shot beat King goalie Stephane Fiset.

The Kings’ Mattias Norstrom, Ian Laperriere and Craig Johnson were also part of the penalty-killing unit at the time.

The goal, however, was Mark Hardy’s fault, Hardy said.

Hardy hasn’t killed a penalty for the Kings since 1994, but he’s an assistant coach and the penalty-killers are his this season.

“If I’m in charge of the penalty kill, I’m responsible for the goals,” he said. “When we get scored on, it’s like I didn’t do my job.”

If that seems extreme, it’s part of the system the Kings have adopted under Coach Andy Murray.

“We have a thing we have undertaken this year in which you have to be accountable,” Hardy said. “If the players have to be accountable, I have to be, so when they score a power-play goal, I’m accountable for it.”

There have been only 11 such accounts called this season in 65 opportunities, an 83.1% success rate that ranks 13th in an NHL that is becoming increasingly power-play oriented.

“I’d like to see it in the 85%-90% range,” Hardy said. “But really, you just want to be the best, whatever number that takes. I want the best penalty kill in the league, and I want my guys to set that as a standard.”

Hardy has been helped by some fresh, young legs when the Kings are a man or more disadvantaged, with rookies Jason Blake and Brad Chartrand mixing in with veterans. They, along with veteran Johnson, lead an aggressive forecheck that is disruptive in nature. In the first game of the recently completed trip, the Kings kept Chicago’s power play in its own end for 90 seconds of a two-minute stint.

“That was a great one,” Hardy said. “I think that was our best one this year.”

The coach didn’t have to be called to account for that one.

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All three players on the Kings’ No. 1 line, Luc Robitaille, Jozef Stumpel and Ziggy Palffy, are averaging a point or more a game. Robitaille continues to lead with 16 points--10 of them on goals--in 15 games, with Stumpel, two goals, and Palffy, six, at 15 points for the 15 games. . . . The Kings took Thursday off after a long trip back from Wednesday’s 1-1 tie at Detroit. . . . There are four Kings on the all-star ballot: Blake and Robitaille are candidates for the North American team; Palffy and Stumpel are on the list for the World team.