Murray: Bernier not to blame

Asked today if he had any further thoughts about last night’s 6-3 gutting by the Sharks, Kings coach Terry Murray said a review of game film had only strengthened his feeling that the Kings weren’t strong enough in the neutral zone or, as Murray put it, “the management of the puck through the middle of the ice, from five feet inside the neutral-zone red line to the top of the circle.” Of course, the Kings also allowed a season-high six goals, although most of them were within just a few feet of the goal and were the products of defensive breakdowns. I asked Murray if he felt that any of the Sharks’ goals were bad goals by Bernier.

MURRAY: “No, not as far as Bernier, no. We had team play in front, and I think everybody needs to take responsibility on what happened. The other part of it was the timeliness of the goals we gave up. We got ourselves back into the game and we were ready to go, and the next shift, a minute later, they’ve got that two-goal lead again, or they’re building on what they had. We just need to be — and we have been — we need to get back to, in those situations, the importance of the next couple shifts right after, bouncing back and responding to that challenge. Again, that’s something we have done a very good job with so far this year, and that was a letdown for us last night.”