LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray is usually, the calm, collected type. He is not a screamer, and rarely yells when he is behind the bench or during practice.

Murray stayed true to form following his team’s 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, a matinee affair on March 5 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Despite that, Murray was hotter than Hades following the game.

The reason was not just that his team responded poorly to the Canucks using physical play and some of the rough stuff to distract the Kings and get them off their game—they were highly successful. Nor was it that the Kings were almost exclusively a perimeter team in the offensive zone, content to play along the boards throughout the game.

Indeed, Murray addressed none of that during his post-game press conference, one that turned out to be the shortest meeting with the media following a game during his tenure with the Kings. What set Murray off was the Canucks’ second goal, that turned out to be the game-winner.

On the play, a scrum in front of the Kings’ net, Canucks forward Daniel Sedin pushed Kings defenseman Drew Doughty from behind, knocking him down on top of Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. The Canucks then got the puck to Sedin on the left side of the crease, and with Quick down, Sedin had nothing but net in front of him for an easy goal.

Video replay confirmed that Doughty was pushed and knocked down by Sedin, who should have received an interference penalty. But no such call was forthcoming from referees Chris Lee and Dan O’Rourke, who were dreadful in this contest, blowing numerous calls for or against both teams, although the Canucks benefitted the most from their ineptitude in this game.

Back to Murray…after answering a general question about the game, Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period asked him what the dispute was about that goal.

“That’s a [deleted] damned shame that the goal was allowed,” Murray fumed.

At that point, Murray just barely stopped himself from uttering an expletive, one that starts with an “F.”

“The guy’s in the crease, Quick can’t move his stick, and Doughty is pushed off, over the top of our goaltender,” Murray said, angrily. “It’s a [deleted] damned shame that that goal was allowed. It should not be allowed. That’s a penalty.”

With that, Murray immediately walked out of the room, ending his press conference after just 34 seconds.

To be fair, video replay did not confirm Murray’s view of Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows, who was in the crease for a fraction of a second, but did not appear to impede Quick in any way. However, his account of Sedin pushing Doughty and knocking him down, on top of Quick was confirmed by video replay.

NOTES

The Kings were 6-of-6 on the penalty-kill, and have killed 53 of their last 58 overall (91.4 percent).

The Kings are 12-3-3 in their last 18 games.

Dustin Penner scored his first goal with the Kings today (he is one of five 20-goal scorers on the Kings roster).

scored his first goal with the Kings today (he is one of five 20-goal scorers on the Kings roster). The last time the Kings had five 20-goal scorers was 1993-94 ( Rob Blake , Mike Donnelly , Wayne Gretzky , Jari Kurri and Luc Robitaille ).

, , , and ). Quick is 9-3-1 in his last 13 games.

Anze Kopitar ‘s five-game point/assist streak was snapped. He also played in his 320th consecutive game. Marcel Dionne holds the team record with 324.

‘s five-game point/assist streak was snapped. He also played in his 320th consecutive game. holds the team record with 324. Justin Williams has eleven points in the last 13 games (two goals, nine assists).

Raw audio interviews

(Edited to remove extraneous material and dead air)

Dustin Brown (0:22)

Dustin Penner (2:52)

Anze Kopitar (3:03)

Terry Murray (0:34)

Game Highlights From NHL Video On YouTube

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