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Schedule Doesn’t Provide an Assist

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During a frosty five-game trip through the Eastern time zone late last month, a hopeful Coach Andy Murray said the Kings’ schedule would “turn more favorable” in March.

This week, club President Tim Leiweke said of the Kings’ playoff aspirations, “We mostly control our own destiny.”

Actually, the opposite is true.

After tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, the Kings play only one of their last 15 against the teams bunched around them in the playoff race, a March 31 match against the Phoenix Coyotes. They’ll be finished for the season with the Oilers, Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks.

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They have two games remaining against both the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche, who are in a fight for the Northwest Division title, and one against the Detroit Red Wings, leaders of the Central Division.

They have four to play against top-eight Eastern Conference teams, two against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which shut out the Kings twice last season and is locked in a tight race with the Washington Capitals for the Southeast Division title.

And consider this: Since Jan. 30, when they upset the Ottawa Senators, 3-0, to start a surge of nine victories in 15 games to climb back into the race, the Kings are 0-5 against teams that currently hold down playoff positions.

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With their 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, the Coyotes moved past the Kings into 10th place in the West. Both have 64 points, but the Coyotes have a game in hand.

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TONIGHT

vs. Edmonton, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KSPN (710).

Records -- Kings 28-30-4-4, Oilers 27-23-8-8.

Record vs. Oilers -- 1-2.

Update -- The Oilers, clinging to the eighth playoff position in the West, ended a nine-game winless streak Tuesday with a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks, but they’re still without injured regulars Mike York and Jason Smith.

Tickets -- (888) 546-4752.

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