More Pain, Soul-Searching

By Jerry Crowe

Dec. 5, 2001 12 AM PT

The injuries continue to mount for the Kings, who found out Tuesday that Randy Robitaille will be sidelined for as many as six weeks, but Coach Andy Murray said the team’s problems go beyond the disabled list.

Winners of only eight of 26 games after Monday night’s 2-0 loss to the Calgary Flames, the Kings are nine points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference and only two points out of last place in the Pacific Division.

Some of the blame for that, Murray said, lies with the coach.

“It’s my job to continue to try to get the best out of the players and, obviously, the first person I’m not happy with right now is myself,” he said. “I’ve got to somehow do a better job and push some better buttons and try to do things....

“If we’re expecting our players to look at what they’re doing, we’ve got to recognize that I’ve got to look at what I’m doing too. That’s just the way leadership works. I’m certainly not perfect, so we’ve got to keep working. You have to continue to do your job and looking at ways of getting better.”

The coach, however, also took a few swipes at his players.

“We’ve got some players, particularly some of our top-level players,” he said, “that are not being as honest as they should be in their effort and in their execution....

“I think we’ve got too many players, you say something to them and it’s, ‘Yeah, but.’ We don’t need any more ‘Yeah, but’ players. You know what I mean by, ‘Yeah, but’? There’s always a reason, always an excuse.”

With high-scoring defenseman Mathieu Schneider and all-star winger Ziggy Palffy already out of the lineup, the developing young Robitaille suffered a separated left shoulder late in Monday night’s game.

Depending on his pain tolerance, Robitaille, 26, could be back in the lineup before Palffy or Schneider, Murray said. Palffy is expected to be sidelined for about three weeks, the coach said, and Schneider for another month.

Journeyman Steve Kelly will fill one of the vacant roster spots after being recalled from the Kings’ American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H.