Strange road trip comes to an end

The long, winding, strange road ends today in Toronto. The Kings need a win tonight to salvage a split on the four-game road trip and then, perhaps, on the long flight home they’ll have time to contemplate what has taken place in the past week and what is ahead. Terry Murray’s coaching run is in the past, and interim coach John Stevens’ short tenure is about to end as well. The Kings are left to wonder what Darryl Sutter will bring, and how things will change. For Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown, it’s probably different feelings. Brown has been through this before, when John Torchetti took over for Andy Murray late in the 2005-06 season. Stoll, in parts of nine NHL seasons, has never been through a midseason coaching change.

STOLL: “It happens. Sometimes it happens and a new guy comes right in and you get underway quickly. For us, it’s been a road trip with John and Jamie, and they’ve been great. They’ve been awesome, running great practices, trying to keep things positive and keep the energy up and keep the attitude right. That’s what it needs to be. We understand that we’ve got a new coach coming, and we’re looking forward to that, but we’ve got to take care of it inside the dressing room and try to win hockey games. That’s our only focus, and should be our only focus.’’

Question: Has it been difficult, at all, to maintain focus this week?

STOLL: “I can speak for myself. I don’t think it’s very hard for me, personally. You try to get yourself ready to go, do your routine and do your thing. Practice hard, be intense and just get yourself ready. I don’t read too much of the media stuff. I don’t read the sports section every day or watch TV every day, on hockey. Some guys do that and they’re talking about it, but I don’t really care, to be honest with you. All I care about is trying to win games.’’

Brown said he hasn’t spent much time contemplating the coaching change.

BROWN: “Things haven’t gone well, and change is going to happen when that happens. It’s up to the players in the room to take on the responsibility of being better. It starts in the practice, with working hard. If you have the hard work, everything else will fall into place. We’ve got to start working hard. … Everyone talks about the changes. We’ve got a game (tonight) to worry about. I don’t worry about who the coach is going to be, or when they’re going to make the announcement or whatever they’re going to do. As players, we’ve got to worry about playing Toronto. That’s our only objective now as players.’’