Kings make a quick stop before heading out on road again

The Kings arrived in Los Angeles in the wee hours Sunday morning, ending Part 1 of their annual February tour of North America.

It was a happy flight home after Saturday’s lengthy 4-3 shootout victory over the Calgary Flames, the Kings’ first win in the Saddledome since December 2005 and one that lifted the team into the top eight in the NHL’s Western Conference.

Now comes the hard part. Because after doing some laundry and picking up the dry cleaning, the team leaves again Wednesday to continue its franchise-record streak of 10 road games with an eastern swing in which they will play six games and cover more than 5,000 miles in 12 days.

“That’s not a very unusual schedule for the L.A. Kings,” Coach Terry Murray said. “We’ve gone through that many games on a road trip before. So that’s just the way it is. And we’ve talked about this as a team in our meetings going back a couple of months ago. What the month of February is going to be like and make sure that we’re prepared for it emotionally.”

What makes this trip different, though, is the Kings’ precarious place in the playoff picture. They are 5-0-1 in their last six games yet find themselves clinging to what would the conference’s final postseason berth were the season to end today. However, they are also only three points out of fourth place in the West.

Hit man

Dustin Brown’s 2-year-old son, Mason, was born prematurely, so the Kings’ captain and his wife, Nicole, are familiar with the challenges facing parents whose newborns need special attention. As a result, Brown has pledged $50 to the infant critical care unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for each on-ice hit he records this season.

And while it may seem strange for a hospital to benefit from one man hitting another, Brown tried tying his giving to goals in his rookie season and it didn’t work out.

“I ended having one goal,” said Brown, who scored his 18th this season in Saturday’s win at Calgary. “So I ended up not giving much.”

On the other hand, Brown, who has been recognized by the NHL and the Kings for his charitable work the last two seasons, ranks among the league leaders in hits, averaging nearly four a game.

“It’s kind of a staple of my game and something you kind of can plan on me doing each and every night,” he said. “It’s for a good cause every night.”

On the mend

Marco Sturm, who went on injured reserve last month because of a knee injury, skated hard during practice in Calgary and is almost certain to rejoin the lineup on the upcoming trip, perhaps as early as Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“If he can give [the knee] a good, hard push now with the practices at home, then I’ll take into consideration that next game in Pittsburgh,” said Murray, whose front lines would benefit from the speed a healthy Sturm could provide.

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