Giving credit where it’s been due

The Kings’ record has been inconsistent of late — since Dec. 4, they’ve gone from win to overtime loss to win to loss to win to loss to win — but throughout all that, the Kings have remained one of the top teams in the NHL in goal prevention. Entering tonight’s games, the Kings are fourth in the NHL — and first in the Western Conference — in goals against per game, with an average of 2.34. Last season, the Kings were ninth in the NHL (and sixth in the conference) with an average of 2.57. Asked today, Terry Murray said he doesn’t mind that the Kings don’t seem to be getting representative recognition for their defensive numbers…

MURRAY: “That’s part of our m.o. That’s the part of the game that we really want to be able to hang out hat on and say, `We’re going to bring that effort every night on that part, on the checking side of it.’ And we’ve done a very good job over the past couple years. The numbers have improved. It’s whenever you start to slip that the attention starts to get focused on that area, and we understand that. It’s OK that it’s not talked about. That’s who we are, that’s what we expect and that’s what you have to do in order to, I think, be a team that’s going to be a successful team. You get down to those games in the second half of the year, and you’re talking about one-goal (games). You’re talking about tie games, and you’ve got to find a way, at the end of the day, to shut it down and to win.”