Murray Wild About Kings’ 4-0 Victory

His familiar worry lines were replaced by a smile Friday, and why shouldn’t King Coach Andy Murray have been happy?

For once, everything went according to his painstakingly detailed plans. Goaltender Jamie Storr stopped every Minnesota Wild shot, the sputtering power play produced its first multi-goal performance in 14 games, and the NHL’s worst penalty killers did their job perfectly.

If only every game went as smoothly as the Kings’ 4-0 victory over the surprisingly meek Wild, played before a sellout crowd of 18,568 at Xcel Energy Center.

“I’d sleep a little better and my meals would taste better,” Murray said.

He had plenty to chew on in Friday’s victory, which moved the Kings within three points of the Edmonton Oilers for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Ziggy Palffy, whom Murray had been pressuring for more consistency, scored a goal and added two assists. Defenseman Mathieu Schneider scored the Kings’ first power-play goal and set up the second with a soft pass from the point Luc Robitaille redirected past Jamie McLennan for a 3-0 lead at 17:20 of the second period.

Robitaille also added an assist and Nelson Emerson scored his first goal in five games, as the Kings happily bade farewell to an expansion team that had beaten them twice in three previous meetings.

Backing it all was Storr. He had been pulled in his previous two starts but on Friday stopped 21 shots for his fourth shutout and a personal-best 19th victory.

“We stuck together. That’s important,” said Palffy, who took a clever cross-ice pass from Jozef Stumpel and one-timed the puck between McLennan’s stick and the left post at 14:05 of the second period. The goal was his 26th, one short of his total last season.

“If we stick together, the five guys on the ice and the 20 guys on the bench, there’s a lot of points in front of us that we can get.”

Said Storr: “We wanted to play solid defensively and make the most of our chances. We executed perfectly out there. We made the most of our power plays and had good penalty kills. We played a solid game tonight all around.”

The Wild is one of the NHL’s best defensive teams but is last in goals scored and was shut out for the 10th time. However, Murray wouldn’t allow his players to consider the Wild easy prey because of its offensive failings.

“The key thing for us was our mind-set,” said Murray, whose family lives in Faribault, Minn., about an hour south of St. Paul. “If anybody on our team thought we would come in and win by three or four goals they were mistaken.

“We respect them. We have to. They beat us the last two times we played them. . . . Against the Wild, it’s important to get a lead, and it was real nice to see that first goal go in.”

Schneider scored it at 11:53 of the first period, 26 seconds after the Wild was penalized for having too many men on the ice. Palffy controlled the puck along the right-wing boards and passed it to Schneider, whose shot from the high slot sailed over McLennan’s left shoulder.

Palffy padded the lead at 14:05 of the second period, and Robitaille made it 3-0, set up by Schneider. Emerson capped it at 11:36 of the third period by converting a good pass from Glen Murray.

“The nicest thing was not only to have a lead but to play with it through the third,” Storr said after his 16th start in 17 games. “We want to still generate chances, though we don’t want to take risks. We got a goal tonight in the third, and that’s the type of hockey we have to play.”

Schneider was voted the hardest-working player by his teammates and got the ceremonial hard hat that accompanies the honor. “It’s something we’ve been doing all season,” he said. “It’s something we like to keep private.”

But there was no hiding his satisfaction after a solid effort that balanced the Kings’ record at 1-1 on this crucial five-game trip.

“Our top guys came to play tonight,” he said. “I keep saying we have one of the most talented teams in the league. The forwards played a great game and put a lot of pressure on their defense. It was a simple game. We moved the puck well.”