The final four

Tonight’s Kings opponent, Anaheim, is one loss (or Colorado win) from being out of the playoffs. Thursday’s opponent, Phoenix, is essentially locked into fourth place in the West. Saturday’s opponent, Edmonton, has been out of the playoff race since…well, the Oilers didn’t even respond to the starter’s gun. Point is, the next three games might not hold a lot of significance to the opposing team, although the Ducks figure to come out playing for their postseason lives tonight.

The question, to Terry Murray, was how he would handle the final four games. Is it “pedal to the metal” the rest of the way?

MURRAY: “That’s always been my philosophy, to keep going the right way, with execution, improving your game, working at your game in all areas and making sure that you’re coming with 100-percent compete attitude. You want to make sure that your own team is ready to go and, on the other side of it, I think it’s very important that you go out with an intent to win, try to win every night, because you do not want to have an effect on another team that’s battling to do something.

“The last thing you want, as an organization, is someone on the outside, at the end of the day, evaluating the last half a dozen games and saying, `I wish they had played that guy, or started that goaltender, or played harder.’ It just eliminates all doubt on anybody’s part. But the most important part, again, is getting your own team ready, fine-tuning it, pushing to get yourself ready for the playoffs.”