Seconds Leaving Unpleasant Taste

The Kings have played five sets of back-to-back games this season, all of them on the road. In four of those sets, the second game has been against a team with at least a .500 record--Colorado, Ottawa, St. Louis and Boston.

The New York Islanders are the only team under .500 the Kings have faced in a second game of a road set. The Kings are 0-4-1 in those games.

“Apparently it’s supposed to be like that for everybody,” Coach Larry Robinson said.

So far this season, the Kings have played 16 games in five home stands, although two of those home stands consisted of only one game and another was only two games.

The Mighty Ducks have played eight back-to-back sets with three of them including at least one home game. In each of the five road sets, the Ducks’ second game was against a team playing under .500--Vancouver (twice), Calgary, Buffalo and the New York Rangers.

Robinson blames the NHL’s computer scheduling system for the Kings’ early-season road woes.

“They say it’s not just the computer and if that’s the case, the human beings they have running the computer need to be checked,” he said.”

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Center Ray Ferraro, on injured reserve since Dec. 9 after knee surgery, has been cleared to return to practice and plans to skate with the team Friday.