Three road trips, and they’re all important

In various accounts, this is being referred to as a 10-game road trip for the Kings, but that’s not really accurate. The Kings will play three games in five days, then return home for four days of rest and practice before heading out for another road trip, one that will include six games in 10 days. Then there’s a flight home and one game in Anaheim. Regardless, it’s important. Tomorrow’s game is against the team (Minnesota) directly in front of the Kings in the Western Conference standings, and Saturday’s game is against the team (Calgary) currently directly behind the Kings. Terry Murray was asked today whether he put any extra emphasis on this upcoming stretch of games when talking to his players, particularly the team leadership group…

MURRAY: “We’ve talked about this road trip, going back a long time. It might even be a month, a month and a half. It wasn’t discussed at length, but it was part of team meetings and team reviews we have as part of the postgame. Then you end up talking about what’s in front of us, getting into the month of February, and how important it was to play well in our homestand and take advantage of the opportunity to build and put some points on the board. So, it has been addressed. It has been talked about with our leadership group. No one is nervous about coming on the road. We’ve all done a pretty good job in that area in the last couple years. We just have to make sure we stay with the details, play the system, trust each other and play the game hard. At the end, though, we’re going to have to be better. We have to get our scoring game going, whether it’s power play or 5-on-5. That’s a concern, and it has been right from the start of the year. We’ve got to be able to find a way to score more consistently in these next 32 games.”