Team Still Hasn’t Reached Comfort Zone

When the Kings left home on Feb. 15, they had won three games in a row, but were just hanging on in the Western Conference playoff race.

“It’s going to be close like that until the end of the season,” Coach Andy Murray said then.

When they got home Saturday night, they had won four of seven on their trip. They are now entrenched in sixth place, but certainly no lock for the postseason, even with San Jose and Colorado between them and the playoff pursuers.

It’s the kind of cushion that isn’t particularly comfortable, but it is a cushion nevertheless.

“It’s going to be close until the end of the season,” Murray said after the Kings lost, 6-3, at San Jose on the final game of the trip.

A March like their February would help expand that cushion. The Kings are 8-3 this month with a game to play on Tuesday night against Vancouver. A win over the Canucks would give them 18 points for the month, the same figure they totaled in October, when they were the talk of the league for going 8-3-2.

What remains of the schedule are 20 games, 13 at home, where the Kings have grown accustomed to Staples Center ice and are 15-10-3.

Not that they are slouches on the road. The Kings are 15-15-4 out of town, one of seven NHL teams with .500 or better records as visitors.

“It was a good trip,” defenseman Rob Blake said. “We played very well. It was almost a great trip.”

It was good enough to set up the final quarter of the season and the run to only their second playoff berth in the last seven seasons.

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Defenseman Garry Galley, sidelined because of a neck strain, said he figured to play on Tuesday, as did winger Ziggy Palffy, whose scratch was because his back spasms flared up after the flight from Vancouver to San Jose.

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Streak Dept.: Luc Robitaille had an assist Saturday night, which gave him a point for the 13th consecutive game. During that span, he has 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points.

Jozef Stumpel’s goal gave him 11, eight of them in the past 13 games. He also has 11 assists over that time.

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The Kings took Sunday off and return to practice today to prepare for the Canucks.