Murray Is in No Hurry to Find Another Captain

Rob Blake’s departure left the Kings without a captain--and they probably will finish the season that way.

Luc Robitaille, Kelly Buchberger and Mattias Norstrom have worn the “A” as alternate captains in the two games since Blake was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. King Coach Andy Murray said Saturday that the trio might keep those roles or he might rotate the honor.

“We’re looking at our team and it has functioned pretty well this way,” Murray said. “I think everyone knows Luc definitely leads the team. Is it appropriate to have someone wear the ‘C’ now? I don’t know. The corpse isn’t even cold from the other captain.

“I think there’s something to be said for making it a team thing. Right now, it’s just our mind-set that we want to share the leadership of the team. . . . We’re still in the sorting-out process after the developments of the past week.”

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The Kings’ penalty killing, the NHL’s worst, has shown signs of improvement since Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel were thrown into the mix.

The Kings killed all five disadvantages Saturday and have neutralized 23 of 27 over their last six games, a solid 85.2% success rate. “Ziggy and Stumpy have been doing a great job,” said assistant coach Mark Hardy, who oversees the penalty killing unit. “And the addition of Aaron Miller, and today Adam Deadmarsh, has been great. Everybody’s coming together, and we have to continue to work as a unit.”

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Miller and Deadmarsh were permitted to return to Colorado and will rejoin the Kings for Tuesday’s game at Nashville. After the Kings played six games in 11 days in six cities, Murray gave players today off. The coaches will meet at the HealthSouth training center to review tapes. . . . The Blue Jackets’ goal against Felix Potvin at 7:41 of the second period Saturday ended a shutout string of 95:58 for the King goalie. . . . King defenseman Mathieu Schneider (groin strain) didn’t play. Defenseman Aki Berg and winger Scott Thomas were scratched.