Kings win home opener by beating Atlanta, 3-1

Ryan Smyth was struggling. Moving deeper into his 30s and with 990 games worth of scars from planting himself around the net and absorbing jabs and shoves, the left wing’s timing seemed off during the Kings’ training camp and through their first two games.

Had he simply worn out, or would a change of linemates revive him?

“I wouldn’t say worried, but I was thinking about it and it weighs on you a bit,” the 34-year-old said. “If you’re not getting the chances, then you start to worry a little bit more. I was getting the chances the last few games and they just weren’t going in for whatever reason.”

The goal-starved Kings needed to know whether he could still make those chances go in.

He gave them a strongly affirmative reply Tuesday, lifting them to a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers before a Staples Center crowd that had not seen its heroes since April 25, when they lost a six-game playoff series to the Vancouver Canucks.

Smyth, taken off the top line and grafted onto a line with Jarret Stoll and Justin Williams, brought the Kings even when he backhanded a rebound past Chris Mason at 3:53 of the third period. He set up Jarret Stoll’s go-ahead goal at 6:10 with a fine lead pass and scored into an empty net with 30 seconds left, delighting the announced sellout crowd.

The victory ended the Kings’ 0-2-1 streak against the Thrashers and was their first over the Thrashers since Jan. 19, 2006.

“A guy like Smitty, he’s been around so long, he’s getting chances, you know they’re going to go in sooner or later,” said Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who made 31 saves. “That was a huge goal to tie it up there and from there we got a lot of momentum going our way and we were able to get the second goal.”

After two unproductive games by Smyth, Coach Terry Murray had moved him off the top line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown and replaced him with rookie Andrei Loktionov. For the first two periods neither line seemed to have a lot of chemistry. But Smyth came out blazing in the final period and helped the Kings tie it at 1-1.

He scored from his usual close range, capping off a play that began with a fine pass by Kopitar to Williams, who took an unsuccessful swipe at the puck. Smyth cruised in deep on the left side for a 10-foot backhander, his first goal of the season.

The Kings pulled ahead at 6:10, after Smyth sent a lead pass to Stoll, who skated in on the right side and took a 35-foot shot that appeared to deflect off a Thrasher defender before getting past Mason’s right arm and stick.

The first period was scoreless, and the Thrashers had a 12-9 edge in shots. The Kings killed three disadvantages, again quickly changing forwards and often sending Stoll out just for the faceoff and pulling him back to the bench as soon as the action permitted.

The Kings had a couple of other good chances. Wayne Simmonds hit the left post from about 25 feet away at the 10-minute mark, and Brayden Schenn pounced on the rebound but couldn’t find the open left side of the net and instead sent the shot wide.

Seconds after Brown hit the right post from point-blank range in the second period, the Thrashers took the lead.

Schenn was credited with a faceoff win over Alexander Burmistrov in the neutral zone but the puck came to Atlanta’s Chris Thorburn. He made defensemen Jake Muzzin and Davis Drewiske look bad by getting between them for a shot that Quick pushed aside. But the rebound came directly to Thorburn, who flicked a wrist shot past Quick at 2:26 for his second goal this season.

The fans became restless, but Smyth later rekindled all the emotions they had held in all summer with his feats.

“I played with Stollie a little bit in Edmonton, not a whole lot, and a little bit last year,” Smyth said. “I had a chance to play with Willie most of last year. We work well off each other and hopefully this is the start of something.”

As opposed to the end for Smyth, who seems to have some life in him yet.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

twitter.com/helenenothelen