Watching the numbers

It’s hard to argue against the Kings’ 8-3-0 start, but it’s still worth noting a somewhat-surprising trend in the area of shots on goal against. That’s a statistic that Terry Murray has prided himself, and his team, on since his arrival, and last season the Kings ranked third in the NHL, allowing a average of 27.6 shots on goal per game. This season, that average has risen to 29.5, and the Kings rank 15th entering today’s games. In their last two games, against Dallas and New Jersey, the Kings allowed 32 and 40 shots on goal, respectively. Do those numbers concern Terry Murray, or are they easier to ignore given that the Kings won both games and held multiple-goal leads in the third period of both games?

MURRAY: “I kind of throw out the shot numbers against New Jersey, the shots against. That was a real hard game to come back and play, and you’re up 3-1 and you’re playing against a team that is trying to get their game on track. So they’re going to risk a fair amount on the offensive side of the game. What I was pleased about, though, was that even though the number of shots, at the end of the day, was up, we limited those shots to pretty perimeter plays. They were outside the dots, and a lot from the neutral zone, actually. We pride ourselves on low numbers, shots, chances. We’ve gone 10 games so far, 11 games, and I would like to see a better number at the end of the next segment of 10 games, on shots against.”