It’s Reality Check Time on Penalties

It’s getting to be a habit, and the Kings are paying a penalty for penalty killing.

Two games have yielded 16 King penalties, a sign that the NHL meant business when it sent out word that referees were to call what they see and not merely police the game to keep the crowd interested.

“If it continues this way, we’re all going to spend time on special teams,” said King Coach Andy Murray after Buffalo had scored on four of its eight power plays in a 5-3 victory Saturday night.

“I don’t like the way it affects the game. If we keep it that way, fans are going to be turned off by it.”

And the Kings are going to spend their nights at a disadvantage, because they seem penalty prone. Five opposition goals have come from power plays.

The Kings are two for nine on their own power plays.

“We took five penalties [in the second period Saturday night],” said Luc Robitaille. “That’s stupid. . . . We can’t afford to play like that. It’s just stupid. We’ve got to use our heads.”

*

Jason Blake was scratched Saturday night to get Stu Grimson some ice time in a game that was expected to be rugged. . . . Center Jozef Stumpel has apparently stopped playing hockey in Slovakia to keep his options open concerning his holdout with the Kings, but has made no contact with the team since Wednesday.