For Once, All Stars Aligned for Kings

It was the ugliest goal of the 171 the Kings have scored this season, and it arguably was their most important.

Luc Robitaille, cleaning up a play as he has done so often, tipped in a puck with 0.4 seconds left in the second period Friday night in a 3-2 win that put the Kings atop Dallas for the first time in 23 meetings.

The Kings had faced the task 22 times since April 6, 1995, without success. Goals by Jozef Stumpel, Garry Galley and Robitaille served as building blocks, and goalie Jamie Storr offered a lifeline with 25 saves that helped end a 0-16-6 run against the Stars.

“I’ve only been coach for one year, so I’ve only lost to them one year,” said Andy Murray, “but the fans and management and some of the players have been at it longer. I don’t think Jason Blake was born the last time [the Kings beat Dallas].”

The situation seemed to demand hyperbole. Blake is a 25-year-old King rookie.

Robitaille’s goal gave the Kings a 3-1 lead and was a clinic in perseverance, for along the way, bodies were spilled all over the Staples Center ice and the crowd of 18,118 grew hoarse.

“I think I was the only one standing,” Robitaille said.

It was only after a goal judge’s review that the 3-1 score was signaled.

Most of the players saw the red light go on from their prone positions.

Among them were Rob Blake, whose trip down the ice was made with Dallas’ Jamie Pushor all over him and ended when Darryl Sydor took his legs out as he shot.

By then, everybody was crashing the net, including Stumpel, who was hooked to the ice by the Stars’ Brenden Morrow, but managed to push the puck to Robitaille, who beat the clock.

Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, a Kings’ nemesis, was tangled with the fallen Blake and helpless.

The Kings refused to admit the goal caused dressing room euphoria at intermission, though the sound emitting from the room afterward was that of a college football team after winning the big game.

“We’ve felt we’ve played good hockey for a while,” said Galley, whose goal gave the Kings a 2-0 lead and kept the Stars from playing their rope-a-dope style that frustrates so many teams.

“When we got back off that road trip and thought we should have had six points and only got two, we knew we were playing well. Now we’re being rewarded.”

That trip included a 3-1 loss at Dallas and a 3-2 loss at Toronto in which the Kings blew a 2-0 third-period lead.

The pace was set in the opening period when the Kings found themselves in a five-on-three disadvantage for 1:16.

A second after the power play ended, Stumpel intercepted a Sylvain Cote pass and worked a give-and-go with Ziggy Palffy: Stumpel to Palffy to Stumpel for a 1-0 lead.

“We didn’t score in that five-on-three and that hurt us,” said Star Coach Ken Hitchcock. “Then we made mistakes and we had given them two easy goals.”

The second was Galley’s, scored in a four-on-four situation.

Robitaille’s goal made it 3-1 going into the third period, but Storr made it exciting at 6:18 when he lost a puck behind his goal to Dallas’ Aaron Gavey, who took it back to the front while Storr scrambled to get back into position.

Gavey simply sent the puck to Richard Matvichuk, who had only not to fumble it away to make it 3-2.

It was left to Storr to hold on from there.

“I had to apologize to Sean O’Donnell,” said Storr, somewhat abashed at the play and its ramifications. “I thought he was going to hit me with his stick.”

O’Donnell and Rob Blake are the only Kings who span the 22-game streak, and they were among those who mobbed Storr at game’s end.

Murray worked hard to low-key things, though it was difficult. Successive wins over Phoenix and Dallas are hard to come by, and the Kings have won four of their last five games after struggling through two months.

“They were important games,” Murray said, “but they weren’t special. The only special game is the one we play that gets us into the playoffs.”

Playing the way they played Friday night will bring that important game, one they have played only once in the last six years.

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The Streak

With a 3-2 victory Friday, the Kings ended a 22-game winless streak against Dallas. They had last defeated the Stars, 3-2, on April 6, 1995:

Season: Record

1999-2000: 1-3-0-1

1998-99: 0-6-0

1997-98: 0-3-1

1996-97: 0-3-1

1995-96:0-0-4