Murray Has Goals in Mind for Allison

The Kings have shown that they can win without production from Jason Allison, going 4-2 over the last two weeks when the slumping center has failed to score. Before defeating the New York Islanders, 3-0, on Jan. 5 at Uniondale, N.Y., they had been 0-7-1-1 when Allison hadn’t scored.

But that shouldn’t ease his burden, Coach Andy Murray said.

“I’d like to think there’s pressure on him every night,” Murray said. “When you have an elite player, he should feel that pressure to perform every night. I remember reading something about Wayne Gretzky, saying fear of failure motivated him every night. I hope Jason feels the same way....

“He’s a special kind of player. He should want to be out there when the game’s on the line and he should want to have the puck on his stick when the seconds are ticking down and we want something good to happen....

“He wants to be a go-to guy. His agent asked Dave [Taylor, the Kings’ general manager] to make him a go-to guy. That’s what we’re expecting out of him.”

Allison has one goal and three assists in the Kings’ last 11 games.

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Philippe Boucher, who suffered a concussion in Thursday night’s 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, sat out for only the second time this season Saturday.... Goaltender Stephane Fiset, playing for the first time since suffering a knee injury in November, stopped 15 shots Friday night for the Kings’ American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H., in a 4-1 loss to the Cleveland Barons.

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Jerry Crowe