Still Plenty of Road Work Left

VANCOUVER, Canada — Eleven games into one of the most demanding stretches in franchise history -- 13 of 15 games on the road -- the Kings are holding their own.

With four games still to play to complete a season-long eight-game trip, starting tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, the Kings are 4-4-1-2 for 11 points in 11 games, which meets their objective of keeping their heads above water through the end of this stretch next Thursday night at St. Louis.

“We’re playing pretty darn hard on the road,” said Coach Andy Murray, whose team has lost five of seven games, two in overtime, since Jason Allison was sidelined. “People look at our record and say of late it hasn’t been good, but we’re hanging in there. We’re battling our way through this and that’s what we needed to do.

“What we’ve had for travel, most teams would take our record. We don’t because I think there were two games we should have won. We should have beaten Minnesota at home and there was no reason for us to lose at Montreal the other night.”

Still, despite the 5-2 loss to Minnesota Nov. 4 and the 3-1 setback against Montreal on Saturday, they’ve remained in second place in the Pacific Division and maintained a playoff position, though the playoffs obviously are a long way off.

“If we can come out playing better than .500 hockey on the road, we’re going to be real happy,” defenseman Mathieu Schneider said after Tuesday night’s 4-3 overtime loss at Toronto. “But we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us.”

*

TONIGHT

at Vancouver, 7

Fox Sports Net

Site -- General Motors Place.

Radio -- KSPN (1110).

Records -- Kings 7-5-2-2, Canucks 7-5-4.

Record vs. Canucks -- 0-0-1.

Update -- A 2-2 tie Oct. 19 at Staples Center extended the Kings’ home unbeaten streak against the Canucks to 14 games, but the Kings lost twice at Vancouver last season, 4-0 and 5-2. Mikko Eloranta rejoined the Kings for Wednesday’s practice but probably won’t play until Saturday night at Edmonton. Felix Potvin is expected to start after being pulled after two periods Tuesday night in favor of Jamie Storr.