Who will take the edge in season series?

It’s been a mixed bag for the Kings against the Dallas Stars this season. The Kings won two early-season meetings, on Oct. 28 at Dallas (5-2) and Nov. 11 at Staples Center (3-1), then lost 2-1 at Dallas on Jan. 17 and, five days ago, lost a third-period lead and lost the game 4-3 in overtime at Staples Center. Now what? The Stars are hot, with a 6-0-2 record in their last eight games, and have regained the services of Brad Richards, after he missed time due to concussion symptoms. Here’s what Terry Murray said today about the Kings’ need to improve on their last game against the Stars…

MURRAY: “We have to be better in our own end tomorrow against that Dallas team. They’re a real pressure-up team. They come hard with three forwards below the goal line. They pressure down the boards with their defense. We have to be able to manage the puck under those pressure situations, and just get some cleaner breakouts on a more consistent basis. I felt we struggled with that in the early part of the game, and it cost us the game at the end of the day, with the turnovers and the lack of reads that are necessarily against the kind of pressure.”

Murray also talked about the different look when facing Richards, who did not play in the teams’ last meeting in Los Angeles…

MURRAY: “You can’t chase the puck. You just can’t chase the pass with guys like Richards and Ribeiro. Whenever they have the puck, they’re going to play the little give-and-go game from the top of the circle to the goal line. They’re very good at it. They try to roll off the boards and beat you to the net, and you’ve got to make sure that you’re in front of your man as they move the puck. No hesitation there, in that part of the game, at all. I think that’s what brought us some problems in the last game that we played them, at home, and we have to clean that up for tomorrow.”

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