A Point Worth More Than Four Goals

Believe it or not, there was a silver lining in the cloud that hung over the Kings after they coughed up a four-goal second-period lead and lost in overtime to the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-5, on Friday night at Phoenix.

Or at least Coach Andy Murray seemed to spot one.

After giving up five goals in a stretch of only 14 minutes 6 seconds spanning the second and third periods to fall behind, 5-4, the Kings drew even and sent the game into overtime on a power-play goal by Ziggy Palffy with 10:02 to play.

As ugly as it was, it netted them a point in the standings. They have earned at least one point in 22 of their last 28 games, 14 of their last 16 on the road.

“We could have laid down when it was 5-4,” Murray said. “It would have been very easy for us to roll over right at that particular point. Everything was going against us. The crowd was into it. They were rolling....

“I liked the determination we showed there because we could have stopped playing and just given it to them. We kept playing.”

Still, he said, “There’s absolutely no reason for us to lose the hockey game. It just shouldn’t have happened that way.

“It comes back to the fact that we were up four goals.”

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Before Friday, the last time the Kings had squandered a 4-0 lead was Nov. 20, 1990, a game in which they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 5-4, at the Forum.

The last time they had squandered a 4-0 lead and lost was Feb. 24, 1986, when the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied for a 6-5 overtime victory at Pittsburgh.

And the last time the Kings had lost when one of their players had a hat trick, as Palffy did Friday night, was Nov. 28, 2000, when Palffy scored three goals in a 7-6 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

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If it’s going to take 93 points to make the playoffs, as Murray has been telling them for months, the Kings need 31 in their last 26 games.

Last season, they accumulated 31 in their last 23 to finish seventh in the West with 92 points, two more than the Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks.

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Jerry Crowe