Murray Is Ready to Move Forward

DENVER —  If the Kings are unable to swing a deal before the March 19 trade deadline, Andy Murray will gladly move forward with the current lineup.

“Obviously, we’d love to make an addition or two,” the King coach said of General Manager Dave Taylor’s pursuit of a high-scoring forward, “but if it doesn’t work ... this is a team that in the last three months has played at a pace with the top teams in the league, and most of December we didn’t have Ziggy [Palffy] and Mathieu [Schneider, sidelined because of injuries].

“We might not be the most talented team in the league, but we’ve proven that with solid work we can beat anybody. Our record indicates that. And we’ve proven that we can win in the other team’s rink too.”

The Kings have accumulated 41 of their 73 points on the road.

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Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche began a stretch of 17 in a row against teams still in the playoff chase. All but the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Kings’ opponent next Saturday, have records above .500.

“There’s so much parity in this league that you can’t afford to take anybody lightly,” Murray said. “Did we take Columbus lightly a week ago [in a 2-0 loss March 2 at Staples Center]? I don’t know. We outshot them badly, but were we as good as we needed to be? Probably not, and as a result, we lost.”

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Kelly Buchberger left Saturday’s game after suffering a sprained right ankle in a first-period collision with Ville Nieminen of the Avalanche. “I just went to hit him and got tangled up,” Buchberger said, limping toward the bus after the game. “Actually, my foot got into the [seam between the ice and the boards] a little weird.” ... Steve Heinze, who has not scored a goal in his last 18 games, returned to the lineup after being benched Thursday night.

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Jerry Crowe