Kings looking for penalty-kill improvement

--The Kings hope that their penalty-killing unit, a strength in recent years and ranked in the top five in the league in efficiency for most of this season, is back on track. Last month, the Kings went through a rough seven-game stretch in which they allowed at least one power-play goal in each game, and killed a total of only 20 of their 28 penalties. Entering Thursday, though, the Kings had killed 10 consecutive penalties in their previous four games. "We were just getting away from a couple of the rules of it," coach Darryl Sutter said. "They're basically old-time rules. It's shooting the puck 200 feet and taking away the middle of the ice. We weren't doing as good a job of it for a while there." The Kings went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill against Florida.

--The Kings are entering the home stretch of their season-long six-game, 11-day road trip, but the hardest part is arguably still to come. After Thursday night's game, the Kings flew nearly three hours to the north, and will face the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon. After that, it's another three-hour flight toward the southwest, to face the Dallas Stars on the second leg of a tough back-to-back set. The Kings are in the middle of their annual "Grammy trip," so named because the music awards take over Staples Center for more than a week and send the Kings, and the NBA's Lakers and Clippers, out of town.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We're trying to get them to keep pushing. Keep pushing and trying to get another opportunity, without making a bad read. Keep pushing, and don't play a sit-back (game). Hey, the way the game is now, it's so important to get the first goal. If you're coming from behind, you've got to change everything." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter.

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