KINGS RALLY TO TIE SHARKS MURRAY'S TIRADE SEEMS TO PAY OFF KINGS 4, SAN JOSE 4.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

Coach Andy Murray issued stern and pointed criticisms to several of his players in a 30-minute meeting Saturday morning, and the Kings came out with an inspired first period against San Jose.

They skated hard, made crisp passes and put 15 shots on the Sharks' net, and after 20 mostly strong minutes, the Kings, well, they trailed by two goals.

It seems Murray's message got through, however, and the Kings played an even more impressive third period and fought back for a 4-4 tie in front of 18,743 at Staples Center, the largest crowd to watch a hockey game in Southern California.

The comeback allowed the Kings to remain tied with the Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division.

Ordinarily, it would have been an outcome to enjoy, but the result seemed a bit hollow for the Kings because they believed San Jose's fourth goal should not have been counted.

``It should have been two points tonight,'' a frustrated Luc Robitaille said.

Vincent Damphousse's shot from the right faceoff circle 67 seconds into the third period glanced off the glove of Kings goalie Cristobal Huet and landed on the red goal line.

That's when the controversy started. The puck bounced, and referee Jay Sharrers ruled it crossed the line while in the air. Television replays seemed to indicate it didn't, but the league office in Toronto said the replays were inconclusive and left the judgment to Sharrers, who once again indicated a goal.

``He's a referee who has had some controversy with us in the past,'' Kings coach Andy Murray said. ``We disagree with the call from somebody who is not supposed to be a part of the game.''

Murray protested the call until the ensuing faceoff, and his players responded with some of their best play in recent weeks. It paid off 9:10 into the period, when Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov misplayed a puck. Jon Sim picked it up and passed to Sean Avery, who shot into an empty net.

The Sharks held off a furious Kings charge over the final 10 minutes, and Huet made the save of the night in overtime when he stopped Damphousse's breakaway chance.

Huet now has allowed four goals in each of his past four starts, but Saturday's result was far easier to swallow than Friday's 5-0 loss, which earned the Kings the strong morning rebuke from Murray.

``There were lots of messages thrown out, like 'What kind of player are you?' 'Can you get it done for this team?' '' Murray said. ``There's one prominent guy, and he needs to be better. We've got guys coming back (from injuries), and if he doesn't play well, he won't be in the lineup, regardless of who he is.''

Murray acknowledged several of the players he called out responded with strong efforts, particularly Jozef Stumpel, whose second-period goal was his second of the season.

``We worked really hard,'' Robitaille said. ``We were really dissatisfied with our effort (Friday) and everybody came back to work. If we keep playing like this, we're going to get a lot of points.''

The Kings forced Nabokov to make several tough saves in an excellent first period, but they trailed 2-0 on goals by Damphousse and Patrick Marleu. Murray pointed out that Sharrers called the double-minor penalty on Avery, which led to the 5-on-3 power play and Damphousse's first goal.

Ironically, after their prolific first period, the Kings had only five shots on goal in the second but scored three times, on goals by Ziggy Palffy, Eric Belanger and Palffy to tie the game 3-3 and set up the third-period dramatics.

``It was obvious that (Damphousse's) goal wasn't in,'' Belanger said, ``but we'll take the positives and move on.''

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

The Kings' Sean Avery, left, celebrates after scoring the tying goal Saturday.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer