Kings Coach Terry Murray

Even by the standards of itchy-fingered Coach Terry Murray , this was a significant shakeup. Hoping to stir his team out of a four-game losing streak, Murray revamped his top three lines for Thursday's game against Nashville. Players found out when they saw the color-coded jerseys in their locker stalls Wednesday. "The blender's out, eh?" left wing Ryan Smyth said, smiling. Left wing Marco Sturm , described by Murray as "still going through training camp and behind the play," was dropped from the top (purple)

When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Fox Sports West. Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 13-11-4; Stars 15-11-2. Update: With defenseman Willie Mitchell set to return, the Kings needed to clear roster space and decided to waive forward Ethan Moreau on Friday morning. Moreau, signed as a free agent in August, had four points in 28 games. Center Mike Richards, who is out because of a suspected concussion, skated for about eight minutes after practice, having met with a doctor on Thursday.

Not pleased with his team's cohesion in Thursday's 3-1 loss at Vancouver, Kings Coach Terry Murray shuffled his lines at Friday's practice, moving left wing Dustin Penner to a line with center Michal Handzus and right wing Dustin Brown . The other lines were Ryan Smyth - Jarrett Stoll - Oscar Moller , Alexei Ponikarovsky - Trevor Lewis - Kevin Westgarth and Kyle Clifford - Brad Richardson - Wayne Simmonds ...

For Mike Richards, there are many questions and few answers at this stage of his recovery from a head injury suffered Dec. 1. Such is the nature of a concussion. The Kings aren't using that word - just as they did not do so last season with Drew Doughty. But they, and Richards, are showing the proper measure of caution, meaning a return to the lineup could take some time. "It's frustrating watching and not being out there and obviously you want to go there, but you don't want to come back when you're not healthy and reinjure yourself," the center said Saturday morning.

Facing a second elimination game in a row, Kings Coach Terry Murray said he would use the same lineup Monday at Staples Center as he used in his team's 3-1 victory Saturday at San Jose. That means winger Scott Parse , whose appearance Saturday was his first since a hip injury forced him out of the lineup Nov. 15, stays on the left with Michal Handzus and Justin Williams . The other combinations were Dustin Penner - Jarret Stoll - Kevin Westgarth , Ryan Smyth - Trevor Lewis - Dustin Brown , and Kyle Clifford - Brad Richardson - Wayne Simmonds . Parse played 10 minutes 17 seconds Saturday and had no shots and one attempt blocked.

Reporting from Philadelphia — Terry Murray has many fond memories of the Philadelphia Flyers' last Stanley Cup finals appearance in 1997. "Everybody is a Flyer fan, and there's just an incredible amount of energy that's brought to the city and to the building," said Murray, then the Flyers' coach and now coach of the Kings. "It was a great experience." What most hockey fans remember, though, is Murray saying his team was in a "choking situation" after it lost the first three games to the Detroit Red Wings.

Kings Coach Terry Murray acknowledged he probably played goaltender Jonathan Quick "a little too much down the last month" but he wanted a potentially favorable playoff matchup against Phoenix and didn't feel secure starting an out-of-rhythm Erik Ersberg . Quick appeared in a franchise-record 72 games and played 4,258 minutes and 27 seconds, second in the NHL. Of the eight goalies who played at least 4,000 minutes only San Jose's ...

Another fruitless effort by the Kings' power-play unit had Coach Terry Murray considering a lineup change for the team's game Monday at Ottawa against the Senators. Murray said Sunday that he is thinking about substituting Jake Muzzin on defense for Peter Harrold , hoping Muzzin's solid shot might energize a power-play unit that has been shut out three times in the last four games and is one for 15 in that span. Muzzin has been scratched the last two games and three of the last four, including the Kings' 4-3 shootout victory Saturday at Boston.

Hearing Coach Terry Murray describe being booed off the ice after the second period of the Kings' 4-0 loss to St. Louis at Staples Center on Thursday night as "the most embarrassing thing I have ever been through" was surprising for several reasons. For one, Murray coached in Philadelphia, where fans are knowledgeable, passionate and not shy about expressing themselves. He surely heard worse there, maybe after saying his Flyers were in "a choking situation" before they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1997 Stanley Cup finals.

Center Jarret Stoll , whose strong all-around play fueled the Kings' early success, has no goals in his last 14 games and one in his last 19. And yes, Coach Terry Murray is counting. "One goal, five assists in the month of December and that was Dec. 2, that goal," Murray said Sunday after the team practiced in El Segundo. "I'm aware of it. The line, we need it to get going. That's the line that played very well for us at the start of the year. " Stoll, now centering for Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams , has eight goals, 23 points and a plus-4 defensive rating in 38 games.

When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Fox Sports West. Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 13-11-4; Stars 15-11-1. Update: With defenseman Willie Mitchell set to return, the Kings needed to clear roster space and decided to waive forward Ethan Moreau on Friday morning. Moreau, signed as a free agent in August, had four points in 28 games. Center Mike Richards, who is out because of a suspected concussion, skated for about eight minutes after practice, having met with a doctor on Thursday.

Lost: One identity. The search party may be out in full force, but the Kings appear no closer to finding one, despite all their season-long efforts, the most recent coming in a largely lackluster loss to the Minnesota Wild. League-leading Minnesota defeated the Kings, 4-2, on Thursday night at Staples Center, recording their sixth straight win on the road, a team record. Identity crisis, you say? Well, the Kings are establishing patterns in the negative sense of the word.

Beware the seemingly ordinary, almost harmless-looking game against an Eastern Conference foe in early December. The Kings and the Florida Panthers are not exactly associated with bad blood, bile and belligerence. By the time the Kings skated away with a 2-1 victory - and their goalie Jonathan Quick making 41 saves and adding a rare assist - the win ended up being an especially costly one at Staples Center on Thursday night. Let us count the ways. Not only did another defenseman, Willie Mitchell, fall by the wayside early on, the Kings lost center and spiritual leader Mike Richards for the third period.

This had all the early intensity of the Kings at Columbus on a winter night deep into the season. Or, say, the passion of the Ducks against the Islanders. For the first 40 minutes, anyhow. None of those stylistic issues will matter, naturally, when the Kings look back at a 2-1 shootout victory Wednesday night against their Southern California rivals, the Ducks, at Staples Center. The switch was flipped from yawn to awake to high alert by the time the teams hit the third period.

Forget the red carpet, the presents, the long speeches and former players being flown in for the occasion. None of that was going to happen for Kings Coach Terry Murray. This was the only suitable present for a man light on ego and heavy on results. The man who happened to be coaching his 1,000th NHL game and made it clear he had little interest in talking about his long career behind the bench. The gift package for Murray was a 5-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at Staples Center, replete with secondary scoring and unexpected contributions.

If there was a way for Kings Coach Terry Murray to slip completely under the radar — perhaps looking for a subterranean route? — you can be sure he would try to find it. A line buried in the press notes about his 1,000th game behind the bench would probably suit him just fine. Not an entire page of notes, questions from the media and public acknowledgment before Saturday's puck drop against the Minnesota Wild. Call him refreshingly old school, light on ego and heavy on results.

No team has given the Kings more trouble on the road than the Calgary Flames. It's been so long since the Kings' last win here, in December 2005, that captain Dustin Brown is the only player on the roster now who was on the roster then. Coach Terry Murray admitted that can be a distraction heading into Saturday night's game here. "Players think about it. Coaches think about it," he said. "You know what's happened in the past. But there's a time also when you've got to just figure that part out and you've to get through it. " Murray hasn't won in the Scotiabank Saddledome since joining the Kings three seasons ago, but L.A.'s road struggles against the Flames franchise date to its birth in Atlanta in 1972.

Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi resolved to be patient during the 1-4-2 slide that followed his team's 5-1-1 start, cutting players slack while they got accustomed to new teammates and overcame jet lag after their European opener. "I didn't want to rush to judgment on some of these efforts, which we knew were below standard, given what they had been through," he said. "Some of the things here I've been a little more lenient. " That tolerance is about to vanish. With numerous home practices behind them and an easy travel schedule ahead, Lombardi is ready to cast a critical eye on a team that hasn't scored consistently.