Kings Simply First-Rate

Andy Murray pulled out his smoke and mirrors again Tuesday, positioning them just so at Staples Center.

Murray waved his magic wand and, presto change-o, the Kings were transformed from a glorified collection of minor-leaguers into something resembling a cohesive Stanley Cup playoff contender.

The Kings’ 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in front of a sellout crowd of 18,118 was no illusion. In fact, it was a victory secured with hearts pumping and legs churning. Against the gritty Flames, there was no rest for the weary.

So what if this was merely the Kings’ second victory in 16 games dating to Dec. 16? So what if another key player was felled by an injury? So what if they failed to click on eight chances with the man-advantage?

The Kings soldiered onward and upward Tuesday against the Flames, vaulting over the Dallas Stars into eighth place in the Western Conference standings. Only the top eight teams advance to the playoffs and, against all odds, the injury-depleted Kings are still among the contenders.

Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was the latest to be injured, unable to continue after suffering a strained neck in the first period. He was hurt when Calgary’s Josh Green took a boarding penalty against him at the 9-minute 54-second mark.

“It was a real cheap shot,” Murray said. “I usually don’t like to call a guy out like that, but [Visnovsky] was facing the boards and the guy [Green] took a pretty good run at him. The referees have to step up and make the calls.”

Murray believed Green should have received a five-minute major.

“We had to play with five defensemen, but we battled all night,” said Murray, whose team has been without Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh all season and learned Tuesday that Martin Straka will undergo surgery on both knees to remove damaged cartilage.

Plus, it was a little more than a week ago that the Kings announced that their leading scorer, Ziggy Palffy, would be sidelined for the rest of the season because of a shoulder injury. So forgive Murray if he sounded protective of his players.

“What else do you want us to do?” forward Ian Laperriere said when asked about the Kings’ ability to stay in the playoff race despite their many injuries. “We have to play the games. We might as well try to win. I mean, nobody wants to lose. I don’t think the guys think like that on this level. At least I don’t think they do.”

Certainly, everybody wants to win, but not every battered and bruised team can match the pluck and luck the Kings displayed in building a 3-0 lead on goals from Derek Armstrong, Laperriere (his first of the season) and Joe Corvo in the game’s first 15:25. Laperriere added an empty-net goal in the game’s final minute.

“I’m not a goal-scorer, but I thought I could have had a couple more tonight,” said Laperriere, whose job description is more along the lines of an agitator. “I won’t get too greedy, but it’s fun to help the team like that.”

Dean McAmmond scored the Flames’ only goal, while they were short-handed 52 seconds into the second period. Jarome Iginla, back in the Calgary lineup after sitting out Monday’s 5-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks with a sprained ankle, had a chance to cut the lead to 3-2 in the closing moments of the second period, but his point-blank shot struck the left goal post.

“I liked our energy tonight,” Murray said. “When you play as hard as we did and with as much passion, I felt like we were really going to stick with it. I really liked our passion tonight.”