Hot Air Heats Up Team

Their coach questioned their integrity. He wondered how their boss could find the stomach to pay them. Cutting to the bone, he called them “an insult to every parent that’s ever taken their kid to play in a hockey game at 5:30 in the morning, like their parents did for them.”

The Kings might not have appreciated Coach Andy Murray’s diatribe, or even agreed with it, but they seem to have responded to it.

Since Murray made his remarks after a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 17, a setback that left them last in the Western Conference standings, they’ve lost only three of 14 games, winning seven and tying three.

Unbeaten in their last five, they’ve crept to within two games of .500, the closest they’ve been to the break-even mark since Oct. 26, and they have won three consecutive games for the first time since early spring.

Their winning streak, however, was fashioned in California against three of the worst teams in the West--the Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets and, finally, the Mighty Ducks, who fell Sunday night in overtime, 3-2, at Anaheim.

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With Philippe Boucher having sat out Sunday’s game because of flu, only Ian Laperriere, Craig Johnson, Jaroslav Modry, Steve Heinze and Kelly Buchberger have played in all 33 games for the Kings.

TONIGHT

at Toronto, 4:30 PST, Fox Sports Net

Site--Air Canada Centre.

Radio--KSPN (1110).

Records--Kings 12-14-5-2, Maple Leafs 20-8-2-3.

Record vs. Maple Leafs (2000-01)--1-0.

Update--The Maple Leafs, only four points behind the Red Wings in the race for the NHL’s best record, have won their last five games and seven of eight, all against teams with .500 records or better. Captain Mats Sundin, who will play for Sweden in the Olympics, leads the Maple Leafs with 17 goals and 33 points.