Murray Tallies Points That Slipped Away

The Kings have rammed through the door of expectations, outworking and outshooting teams with regularity and moving to the head of the Pacific Division class as the season nears the one-third mark.

And yet Coach Andy Murray, as he has throughout the season, talks often about the ones that got away, recently saying the Kings should have at least eight more points in the standings.

One of those points, perhaps even two, got tossed away here during the Oct. 9 season opener, a particularly disappointing 3-2 loss where a 2-1 lead evaporated faster than you can say Henrik Zetterberg. Pavel Datsyuk scored a power-play goal with 3 minutes 45 seconds left and Steve Yzerman scored the game-winner in a two-on-three rush with 1.7 seconds left.

Since then, the Kings have added Martin Straka, tightened up defensively, and received encouraging news that center Jason Allison, out since January because of whiplash, could return soon. Allison skated Saturday with the team but is not yet playing with contact.

The Kings, one of a handful of teams that have been competitive against Detroit in recent seasons, have a chance tonight to improve their 10-11-4 record against the Red Wings since 1997-98.

“They’re always battles right to the last minute,” Murray said. “We always play them hard, which we did in that [October] game.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Detroit, 4:30 PST, Fox Sports Net

Site -- Joe Louis Arena.

Radio -- KSPN (710).

Records -- Kings 14-10-1-1, Red Wings 15-10-3-0.

Record vs. Red Wings -- 0-1-0-0.

Update -- Detroit has scored an NHL-best 94 goals and is 9-3 at home. Brett Hull tied former King Marcel Dionne for third place on the all-time goal-scoring list with 731.