Murray Plays It Cool in Debut and Kings Warm to His System

NASHVILLE — There are few reasons to be giddy over victories in October, especially when the winner ranked 22nd overall in the NHL last season and the loser ranked 24th. And Andy Murray had the proper perspective on his first game as coach of the Kings.

“You can’t win ‘em all until you win the first one,” Murray said after the Kings’ season-opening 2-0 victory Saturday. “At least I know we won’t lose ‘em all.”

And they won’t lose ‘em all to Nashville, which they almost did last season. To avoid another non-playoff finish, the Kings must defeat teams like the Predators, whose talent level approximates their own. Sounds simple, but the Kings found it nearly impossible last season.

“Tonight was a great example of that. If we’re going to be successful, we’ve got to beat the Tampa Bays, Islanders and Nashvilles,” defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “We’ve got to have the effort every game.”

The Kings got a strong effort for the first two periods Saturday but relented slightly in the third. That didn’t cost them against the Predators, whose tenacity outweighs their talent. Against upper-echelon teams, such as the Blues, Stars or Red Wings, they won’t be able to get away with such lapses. But it’s likely Murray won’t let them relax.

Although he was making his NHL coaching debut in front of a hostile crowd of 17,113 and in a loud and lively building, Murray never lost his cool.

If he appeared calm, that’s because he was. He insisted he felt less pressure Saturday than he felt a year ago before his first game as coach of Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Minn.

“I feel like I’ve been here before,” he said. “Maybe because I have been. I call it deja vu coaching.”

That’s nothing mystical, nothing involving past lives or reincarnation. Murray often visualizes how he would react to certain challenges and analyzes what he actually did when faced with those problems as a coach at various levels; he had never been here, if “here” means Nashville, but he had been there, structuring a power play for the Canadian national team or for Shattuck-St. Mary’s. When he had to do it Saturday, his decisions came easily and quickly.

“When I speak at coaching clinics, I tell coaches, ‘You’ve arrived as a coach when you’re behind the bench and know exactly what do to in certain situations,”’ he said. “I feel like I’ve done this before.”

He has communicated that notion to his players, testing them rigorously in practices so they will feel comfortable and not panic when they’re tested in games.

“You know what he does really well? He’s a stickler for detail,” O’Donnell said. “In practice, everything has to be done at a high tempo and has to be done exactly right. . . . I know a lot of people scoff at the fact he coached high school kids before this, but he’s been an [NHL] assistant and coached the Canadian national team.

“He’s got everybody feeling like they contributed, and he holds everybody accountable, whether it’s Luc, Ziggy, or whoever. I’ve been on the other side of a few of his tirades but you have to respect what he’s done.”

What he has done is win one game. Nothing to brag about. But more importantly, he’s making players welcome responsibility rather than avoid it.

Defenseman Mattias Norstrom sensed a different atmosphere the day he rejoined the Kings after ending his contract impasse.

“You could tell in practice. Everything was a high tempo, high intensity. He demands that,” said Norstrom, who flagged a bit in the third but played capably. “Everything is going to be done at a high speed and we’re going to do it until we get it right, and that carries over into games.

“Sometimes, you wish it was as simple as turning [effort] on and off. But you look at great championship teams, like Detroit and Dallas, and they’re sharp in practice. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Murray is trying to instill an attitude as much as he’s trying to install a system. On Friday he held what he called an “excuses meeting,” listing the excuses he believes players most often cite when teams lose: not knowing the system, not communicating with one another, not being accountable and not being treated well by the organization. He asked players if they knew the system, if he had been clear in assigning their roles, if they felt the team has discipline and if the charters and hotels were suitable. He called on individual players for responses, and with each affirmation he crossed off another potential excuse.

“You heard last year what we wanted--more intensity and we wanted everybody to be more accountable,” left wing Luc Robitaille said. “That’s what we’re getting.”

Sometimes, wishes come true turn out to be nightmares. But for one night, at least, the Kings got their wish and Murray got the game puck from his players as a memento of his first NHL victory. Plus, he’s already ahead of his pace at Shattuck-Mary’s.

“We lost the opener to the Northern Iowa Huskies of the U.S. Junior Hockey League,” he said, “but then we won 29 in a row.”

One in a row is a good start for the Kings.