Calgary is Kings’ toughest road stop

Reporting from Calgary, Canada — 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. Since then, the Kings have lost 62 road games to the Flames, their worst mark against any NHL opponent, while the current slide of 10 consecutive losses matches the longest road losing streak against one opponent in the Kings’ history.

And that’s not the only history on the line Saturday night — the Flames are riding a six-game winning streak, their longest since 2008.

“They keep it pretty basic. And they have good goaltending,” said Murray, whose Kings are almost as hot, having gone 4-1-1 in their last six games. “And it seems to be just a part of the game that we’re not able to crack against them, where we’re able to find the timely goal or the timely play that’s going to make the difference.

“The bottom line is winning the game, and we’re not getting that result.”

Shooting star

Anze Kopitar has scored once in his last 18 games after scoring nine times in the previous 18. The All-Star forward conceded Friday that he won’t break out of that slump until he changes his approach.

“I’ve got to shoot the puck a little more,” he said. “Maybe not wait for the perfect situation but just let it go and maybe surprise the goalie and hopefully it will go in.”

The numbers appear to bear that out. During his scoring streak, Kopitar put the puck on the net 65 times, once taking nine shots in a game and taking at least five on three other occasions. But since he went cold in late December, Kopitar has taken only 47 shots, including nine games when he took no more than two.

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