Murray Lashes Out at Kings

Seemingly at his wits’ end after the Kings fell deeper into the Western Conference cellar Saturday night with a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Coach Andy Murray wondered if club owner Philip Anschutz should stop paying them.

He questioned their integrity, calling their performance “an embarrassment to the game” and “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.”

He said their poor effort reflected a lack of respect for their profession.

He called it unacceptable.

“You perform like this in a number of companies and I wonder if you’re going to have a job in a couple of weeks,” he said after the Kings were outshot by the Red Wings, 33-10. “I can’t imagine Mr. Anschutz sitting down and writing checks to pay some of these guys with the kind of effort they put in here tonight.”

The Red Wings, owners of the NHL’s best record at 17-3-0-1, dominated from the outset against the Kings, who stayed close until Sergei Fedorov scored with 2:20 to play only because goaltender Felix Potvin played one of his better games.

Their latest loss came only a few hours after Murray met with the struggling Kings and told them that, after winning only five of 18 games to start the season, they’d probably have to win 40 of their last 64 to reach the playoffs.

“We had a meeting this morning,” he said, “and it was very specific. It was very direct. It was about accountability and making sure players knew that if we were to improve and fight our way into the playoffs, certain things would have to change and certain players would have to pick up their games.”

By midnight, as they made their way to St. Paul, Minn., for the second game of their four-game trip tonight against the Minnesota Wild, the Kings’ task had grown more daunting.

Now, according to their coach, they must win 40 of their last 63.

To make matters worse, their leading scorer, Adam Deadmarsh, is injured again after suffering an abdominal strain during a first-period fight with the Red Wings’ Darren McCarty. The winger is doubtful for tonight’s game.

For two periods against the high-flying Red Wings, the Kings barely hung on, falling behind, 3-1, in front of 20,058 at Joe Louis Arena after giving up power-play goals to Nicklas Lidstrom in the first period and Brendan Shanahan in the second, sandwiched around a short-handed goal by Brett Hull in the second.

The Kings, who got a second-period power-play goal from Craig Johnson, closed the gap to 3-2 on a power-play goal by Steve Heinze at 3:09 of the third period, but it was too little too late to prevent their eighth loss in 10 games.

“The bleeding continues,” King captain Mattias Norstrom said. “If I could put my finger on one thing that’s wrong with this team I would have done that a couple of weeks ago. Right now, you see too many things go wrong.

“I hate to talk about this, but it’s a confidence thing and it’s everybody. You almost don’t even recognize the players from earlier in the season because ... we’re playing so uptight. We’re playing like we’re afraid of losing and we have to find some way out of that because that’s a loser way of playing hockey.”

Ian Laperriere said that if the Kings are to turn their season around, the players are going to have to take it upon themselves to get it done.

“It’s got to come from inside this room,” he said. “Coaches can only do so much. They put some stuff on the wall and they call the lines, but it comes down to the players on the ice. That’s been the problem. We’re not doing the job. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror. We’ve got to play desperate, and that’s not the way we’re playing....”It’s good to say it’s not panic time but it is. Right now. We’ve got to find a way to win. We need a better effort. Ten shots on net won’t beat Dominik Hasek.”

He’ll get no argument from Murray, whose frustration grows.

“A lot of these guys,” said the coach, in his third season with the Kings, “are reverting to being the kind of players they were three years ago--guys that aren’t playing honest and aren’t putting in the hard work and determination that our team’s been noted for the last two years.

“I mean, we’re not a talented team. But when we work hard, we’re capable of beating anybody, as people have seen.”

Nobody saw it Saturday night.