U.S. Victory Tests Murray’s Allegiances

The Kings had a day off Monday, but Coach Andy Murray didn’t.

He was glued to the TV early in the morning because his home nation, Canada, was playing a gold-medal game and his son, Brady, was representing the U.S. in the world junior championships in Finland.

The result, although barely national news here, was a stunner: U.S. 4, Canada 3 -- a shock, if not sacrilege, in Canada, where the start of the world juniors was heralded two weeks ago with TV commercials and special newspaper sections.

Minnesota Wild draft pick Patrick O’Sullivan scored twice in the third period to help the U.S. overcome a 3-1 deficit, including a fluke goal with 5:12 left that turned out to be the winner.

The U.S. won its first gold medal in the 28-year history of the tournament, which includes 10 teams of the top under-20 players in the world.

For Murray, it was the end to a difficult process that began last month when his son, who has dual-citizenship, chose to play for the U.S., a headline-maker in Canada because the elder Murray is a candidate to coach Canada in the World Cup of Hockey this summer.

While careful not to betray a lifelong allegiance to Canada -- he was an associate coach for Canada at the 1998 Olympics and coached Canada to a gold medal last spring at the world championships -- Murray said Monday’s result was more than acceptable.

“It was disappointing to see the disappointment in the kids with the Canadian jerseys on, [but] if my own son would have been disappointed, I would have felt worse,” he said. “Your son’s on the team so you want them to do well. It doesn’t happen very often. It’s kind of special. No matter how many U.S. wins there are after this in the future, this was that first one.”

Brady Murray, a freshman at the University of North Dakota, scored twice in the tournament but did not have a point Monday.

The winning goal came when Canada goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s clearing pass hit defenseman Braydon Coburn and ricocheted into Canada’s net. O’Sullivan was credited with the goal.

“It obviously shows you how ... there’s a lot of parity out there,” Andy Murray said.

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Murray had other things to do Monday, such as finding a way to get the Kings out of an eight-game winless streak (0-2-5-1), the longest in Murray’s five seasons.

The Kings have won once in their last 10 games but, on the flip side, are only six points behind the San Jose Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. The Kings’ next 17 games are against Western Conference teams, including the Mighty Ducks on Wednesday.

“We have to get some wins, there’s no question about it,” Murray said. “We can’t stay where we are.

“We can’t play .500 hockey and expect to get into the playoffs. We’ve been less than .500 of late and we’ve got to get better.”

Lineup decisions for Wednesday’s game will not be made until today at the earliest, Murray said.

The only decision Monday was to send center Esa Pirnes to minor-league affiliate Manchester (N.H.), primarily for conditioning purposes.

Pirnes was activated Monday after being out since Nov. 27 because of a concussion.