Kings’ Goal: Begin With a Win

The goal has not changed since the day he got to town.

“Win the first game at Nashville,” Andy Murray said.

It’s more than just two points along the ol’ Stanley Cup trail. It’s another beginning and a symbol for the Kings, who struggled with beginnings last season after spending the weeks before the first faceoff expounding on their goal of winning playoff games.

To do that, you have to get to the playoffs, which means you have to win more regular-season games than did the Kings, who were 32-45-5, bad enough to finish with 69 points and far from anything in the postseason other than an organizational reshuffling.

They were 7-31-1 in games in which the opposition scored first, 3-28 when they were behind after one period.

They lost both their goaltenders because of injuries in the fourth game of the season.

Bad beginnings.

Bad endings.

It’s why Murray is the new coach, with a mission to win at Nashville on Saturday.

Beyond that, who knows?

“I don’t believe in setting goals for points,” he said. “Who can point to a schedule and say, ‘That’s a game we’ll win. That’s a game we’ll lose. That’s a game we’ll tie.’ Nobody can do that.”

Instead, he offers intensity, but it’s a long season and it’s a lot to ask players to be intense until April.

Murray isn’t asking. He’s demanding.

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask the players to be intense 2 1/2 hours a day, three or four days a week,” he said. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask them to be intense for 45 minutes to an hour at practice.”

It’s not too much to ask Ziggy Palffy for 40 goals.

The Kings assume that much and hope for more from Palffy, acquired with center Bryan Smolinski in a trade with the New York Islanders in June after a quest of nearly a year.

From the beginning last season, there was an expressed need for a scorer, and attempts to get Pavel Bure from Vancouver and Theoren Fleury from Calgary went wanting. Finally, Palffy was available.

If he scores some of his goals on the power play, better still.

The Kings had hoped to improve on a middle-of-the-pack showing of the season before, but instead went in the other direction, dropping to 24th at 13.1% efficiency. Even a middle-of-the-pack repeat might have gotten the Kings into the playoffs again last season, and with Palffy, they expect more than that.

He plays on a line with center Jozef Stumpel--a playmate from their youth in Slovakia--and Luc Robitaille, 33, who found the Fountain of Middle Age last season with 39 goals. Stumpel is in a contract year and is seeking to rebound from a season fraught with injuries. He finished with 13 goals and 34 points--well below the 21 goals and 79 points of the previous season--and never played a game without injury.

“It’s nice to hear a little Slovakian language,” said Stumpel, smiling at the addition of Palffy. “Every year, he gets tons of goals.”

And this year, maybe he helps to restart Stumpel.

And maybe Smolinski finds what drove him to a 31-goal season in Boston six years ago.

“I still think he’s the key to the Palffy deal,” Murray said.

Smolinski will team with Glen Murray and Donald Audette in a unit that also will be part of the second power play. All have the ability to score.

The coach met with the third line before the exhibition opener at Las Vegas and reminded Ian Laperriere, Craig Johnson and rookie Marko Tuomainen that their mission was not to score, it was to keep the other team’s top line from scoring.

That they then combined for a goal and two assists confounded the message, but they understand their roles.

The fourth line is being called “the Energy Line,” and it’s designed to jump-start the Kings with a big hit or a goal. Jason Blake, injured during training camp, is the catalyst, and Vladimir Tsyplakov the rocket booster.

Defensively, things will look familiar if the Kings can sign Mattias Norstrom to play on the No. 1 pair with Rob Blake, but if not, Jaroslav Modry, who has had a good training camp, will get the job.

The return of Aki Berg and his pairing with a stronger Sean O’Donnell offer a bruising second pair, and Garry Galley has turned back the clock on his career with a new diet-exercise regimen. He is paired with rookie Frantisek Kaberle, a Czech who showed a lot of offense while playing in Sweden last summer.

The goalies, Jamie Storr and Stephane Fiset, will share time, each casting a wary eye on the calendar because only one can be protected during next spring’s expansion draft. Both played with injuries last season, and Fiset has been particularly impressive in training camp, showing his rehabilitation has been successful.