Heinze Gets a Break; Now, He Wants a Goal

Steve Heinze was tied for the club lead with Adam Deadmarsh when he scored his 15th goal in a 2-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Jan. 15.

Since then, Deadmarsh has scored 10 goals, Heinze none.

Heinze’s drought reached 18 games Saturday at Denver when the right wing failed to score in the Kings’ 4-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Two nights earlier, Heinze had been scratched at Nashville.

“Yeah, I was surprised,” Heinze said of his benching. “But the team brought me in here over the summer to score goals and that’s something I haven’t done in too long of a time, so it’s the coach’s decision.

“I don’t agree with it, but I’m not going to argue with it because he can just look at the stat sheet and say I haven’t been doing the job.”

Coach Andy Murray, explaining the move, said he thought Heinze might be pressing and wanted to give him a “mental break” by sitting him down.

“I think watching the game helps,” said Heinze, who signed a three-year, $6-million contract in July after scoring a career-high 26 goals last season for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres. “You sit up there in the press box and it looks so simple.

“Maybe you just turn off your brain and be like, ‘Hey, look how easy it is out there; don’t make it so hard.’ Sometimes you think too much and make it difficult.”

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Kelly Buchberger’s streak of 243 consecutive games, the NHL’s fourth-longest active ironman streak, will end tonight when the veteran winger sits out against the Chicago Blackhawks after suffering a sprained right ankle in Saturday’s game.

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TONIGHT

vs. Chicago, 7:30, Fox Sports Net

Site--Staples Center.

Radio--KSPN (1110).

Records--Kings 30-22-9-4, Blackhawks 35-20-9-1.

Record vs. Blackhawks--1-2.

Update--The Kings’ 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Dec. 9 at Chicago started a surge that has taken them from six games below .500 to their current position. The Kings play five of their next six games at home, where they are 13-12-5-1.

Tickets--(888) 546-4752.

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Jerry Crowe