Kings Continue to Head North in the West Race

PHOENIX —  A pretty productive game for the Kings.

Andy Murray set a team coaching record. Luc Robitaille assured himself of another 20-goal season. Nathan Dempsey scored for the first time with the Kings.

Above all else, two more points were earned in the standings.

The Kings played a sharp third period -- “businesslike” was the term favored by Murray -- and completed a sweep of the Phoenix Coyotes on consecutive nights with a 3-1 victory Wednesday before an announced crowd of 13,809 at Glendale Arena.

On a night when it was difficult to select the stars of the game, the players pointed toward the Western Conference standings as a more important theme. With the victory, the Kings moved to seventh in the conference, jumping over the idle Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues with 13 games left.

“We’re moving up,” Robitaille said. “We control our destiny. Win our games and we’ll make the playoffs.” Robitaille did his share by supplying a 1-0 lead with his 20th goal, a plateau he has now hit in 16 of 18 seasons.

Dempsey, acquired March 2 from the Chicago Blackhawks, also contributed with his 10th goal of the season, and first with the Kings, at 3:59 of the third period.

Behind the bench to see it all was Murray, who coached his 397th game with the Kings and broke Bob Pulford’s team record for career games. He is one victory short of tying Pulford’s team record of 178 career victories.

“It just means that I work for stable ownership and management,” said Murray, in his fifth season. “There were rocky times over the years. We stayed consistent in what we believed and I was surrounded by great players.”

That it happened against the rapidly fading Coyotes was immaterial after a third period that would have held up against almost any team. The Kings gave up four shots in the period and had little trouble extending Phoenix’s winless streak to 10 games (0-6-2-2).

“I felt our third period was the best hockey we’ve played in the last week or so,” Murray said. “We didn’t give Phoenix a lot of opportunities. Very businesslike.” And, at times, a little lucky.

Left wing Alexander Frolov, who has provided a fair share of highlight material this season, scored a fluke goal to give the Kings a 2-1 lead 4:06 into the second period.

From the corner, Frolov passed out front to Dempsey on a backdoor play. The puck never got there. It caromed off the glove of Phoenix defenseman Paul Mara and past goalie Brian Boucher.

“A goal’s still a goal,” Frolov said, smiling.

Good fortune was also part of Robitaille’s goal.

Less than 24 hours after he scored the winning goal in a 3-2 victory Tuesday, Robitaille got the Kings rolling 4:50 into the first period. Derek Armstrong was given the assist, but the Kings also had help from linesman Vaughan Rody, who inadvertently got in the way of an attempted clear by Phoenix winger Daniel Cleary.

Armstrong snapped the loose puck toward the net and Robitaille grabbed it at the left of the crease, waiting a beat for Boucher to go down before firing it in.

“When I stop playing, it’ll mean something when I look back,” Robitaille said of again scoring 20 goals. “Right now, we’ve got to keep winning.”

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King rookie Dustin Brown was a healthy scratch and was replaced in the lineup by Jeff Cowan, acquired Tuesday from the Atlanta Thrashers for Kip Brennan. “If you look, he was playing a lot at the end of a very close and important game,” Murray said of Cowan. “That’s always a good sign of how a guy is doing.”