Keeping the shot totals down

For all the negatives in the Kings’ games of late, there has been one notable positive. After Thursday’s game, the Kings moved to first in the NHL in terms of fewest shots on goal allowed per game. The Kings have allowed an average of 27.4 shots on goal this season, 0.1 fewer than second-place New Jersey. That’s one area in which the Kings have been consistently strong under Terry Murray. The season before his arrival, the Kings ranked 28th, allowing an average of 32.0 shots on goal. The next season, they improved to fourth (28.1). Last season, they were third, at 27.6.

MURRAY: “It’s an area you stress. To win, you have to have a team that can play on the checking part of the game. That’s all there is to it. You don’t necessarily win with checking, but you do have to know how to get the job done, in order to go deep in the playoffs and, eventually, to be able to win. Because now you’re talking about those one-goal games, that are critical to know how to shut down. It’s a process you have to go through. You learn, as a young hockey club. I think we’ve been good at it in the last couple years. Actually, we have improved each year, in the last couple years. That’s a real positive sign. There’s a lot of attention, a lot of work put into it, by the players, and now we’ve got to get some focus on the other side of the game.”