Kings End Skid, Coggs still Fuming

"It's a start" Coggs said, "but these guys are far from out of the doghouse. We have a lot of work to do. We had some awful games."

Coggs was most livid about an earlier game in Dallas. The Kings built a 3-0 lead heading into the third period, and proceeded to yield 4 goals in the first 6 minutes of the final stanza. "Yeah, I thought that was the low point and it got worse." The Kings surrendered 4 goals in the first period the next night against the Devils, then got lit up at home by the Rangers. "Phoenix was another toughie. Build a 3-1 lead through two periods and blow it in OT. Games like this make me question my players conditioning and heart. Conditioning we can work on, heart they need to find for themselves or they will be out of here."

Then, came last night's disaster against the Rangers where Mats Sundin, Niko Dimitrakos, and Lubomir Visnovsky were all -5. Coach Andy Murray seriously thought about benching all 3 players for the game, but thought that would do more harm than good. "You can't bench your best player, even after a disastrous game like that. Although, if this type of play continues, I'll bench every single one of them and call up the last guy on Manchester if I feel I really need to send a message."

Coggs is still angry about the team's recent play. However, he is not ready to do anything drastic, "but that can easily change if I feel it is necessary. At this point, NO ONE is safe."