Stauber Stays Perfect, Beats Whalers, 7-3 : Hockey: King goalie, who still hasn’t lost this season, stops Hartford.

Robb Stauber, the goalie who skated in from the cold, wasn’t even in the Kings’ organization a year ago at this time.

He certainly wasn’t in Los Angeles, wearing a Kings’ uniform. Nor was he with the Kings’ top minor-league team, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League. Instead, he was in the U.S. Olympic program, and that assignment wasn’t going well, either.

Now, his career has come out of oblivion. With the Kings defeating the Hartford Whalers, 7-3, on Saturday, two lengthy streaks continued.

Stauber, who faced 42 shots, is undefeated, going 8-0-1. The only game he didn’t win was a 5-5 tie against Minnesota on Oct. 24.

The Kings (19-7-2) are undefeated in their last 12 games at the Forum. Saturday, the sellout crowd of 16,005 watched them score a season-high four power-play goals.

Defenseman Paul Coffey led the way with four assists.

Not only did the Kings force Hartford starting goaltender Sean Burke out of the game when he gave up three goals on 12 shots, they also got another chance at Burke when his replacement, Frank Pietrangelo, left the game because of a bruised knee.

The Kings are 7-1 in their last eight games and 13-3-1 in the last 17.

Again, they prolonged their Forum winning streak without big nights from Jari Kurri or Luc Robitaille. Kurri, who leads in the team in scoring, assisted on Jim Hiller’s power-play goal at 12:10 of the first period. Robitaille, struggling a bit against the Whalers, was held pointless.

But it didn’t matter, the way the Kings’ defensemen took control of the scoring. Rob Blake scored twice and rookie Alexei Zhitnik once. Charlie Huddy scored his first goal of the season, beating Pietrangelo all alone in front of the crease at 12:49 of the first period to make it 4-0.

“They were turning on lights in the other end,” said King Coach Barry Melrose, who was pleased with the second- and third-period efforts.

“I liked their effort in the other end better than the effort at our end. But Robb (Stauber) played a great game and bailed us out. We were very fortunate to get out of this with a win.”

Last season, the Kings didn’t record their 19th victory until the 48th game of the season, a 4-3 victory over Calgary on Jan. 25. Now, they have opened a seven-point lead in the Smythe Division on second-place Calgary, which was idle. They maintained their second-place status overall in the NHL, one point behind Pittsburgh.

Stauber is only one of the factors behind the Kings’ success. Even a few months ago, the Kings left him unprotected in the expansion draft. Tampa Bay and Ottawa, not wanting to pick up a big contract, passed him over.

“I’m glad they did,” said former King General Manager Rogie Vachon, who drafted Stauber. “I’m amazed by how he is playing. He is doing everything right, technically. He came to training camp and won the job. You can just see the confidence in him now.”

King Notes

If any other coach compared his players to dogs, it would be considered an insult. Not with King Coach Barry Melrose, who continues to find new and curious ways to describe his players. The other day, for instance, he spoke about the Mike Donnelly-Corey Millen-Tony Granato line, saying: “It’s not size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. They’re like three Rottweilers.” . . . The scratches were right wing Tomas Sandstrom (broken left forearm), right wing Dave Taylor (concussion), left wing Warren Rychel (left foot bruise) and right wing Bob Kudelski. . . . Right wing Jim Hiller’s power-play goal in the first period was his first goal in 18 games. His last goal came against Boston on Oct. 17. . . . The Canadian California Chamber of Commerce will honor former King defenseman Larry Robinson with a dinner on Dec. 11. Among the guests scheduled to attend are Bobby Hull, Steve Shutt and the Kings’ players. Tickets are $140. For more information, call (818) 951-2841.