Kings search for much-needed balance

Terry Murray isn’t exactly a “stathead,” a coach who throws around numbers a lot, but boy, he remembers the ones that mean something to him. So when Jarret Stoll’s name was brought up after practice today, Murray didn’t need much prompting. “One goal, five assists in the month of December, and that was Dec. 2, the goal,” Murray said. Right you are, coach. Stoll had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his first 19 games, but has had only those six points in his last 19 games. That’s not to put all the blame on Stoll. He, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams made for a dynamic line early in the season, and while the numbers for Smyth and Williams have dipped a bit as well, Stoll’s number and fallen the furthest. That balanced scoring was a huge part of what made the Kings successful early in the season.

MURRAY: “The line, we need them to get going. That line played very well for us at the start of the year. We’re getting ourselves, I think, in so tight sometimes, in that offensive zone, that it’s near-impossible to generate the stuff we’re looking to try to do.. You (face) that five-man attitude — same as we have — with the home plate, everybody back, collapsing and protecting the front of the net area. Once you get in there offensively, and start to do things with possession of the puck, you’re playing 3-on-5. That’s hard. You’re going to find a way, sometimes, to make it happen, but if we get that loosened up, let’s not forget about those two guys at the blue line. Let’s pull away and loosen up and spread the ice out a little bit.

“We can find some more opportunities, in particularly speaking of Jarret because of his shot mentality. That’s one of his trump cards, is shooting the puck. If we can get him away from all that traffic and find him in those seams, those high seams, I think more stuff would open up. That was the message we had in our review (Sunday) morning, in the team meeting. I think that will generate more offensive play, more offensive opportunities. The other part you have to do, off of that though, is get to the net more consistently with a net presence. We let Niemi see the puck far too many times (Saturday) night.”