Kings and Avalanche Tie One On, 2-2 : Hockey: Hrudey saves 37 shots, but counterpart Fiset kicks out 36 as Los Angeles remains unbeaten in overtime since Feb. 14, 1994.

Once the Kings reached the safe haven of overtime, they are the epitome of consistency. They kept their unblemished overtime record intact with a 2-2 tie against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at the Forum before an announced 14,673.

In 10 overtime games, the Kings are 2-0-8 this season. They haven’t lost an overtime game since a 3-2 defeat against Boston on Feb. 14, 1994, a run of 2-0-23.

The game featured a stellar goaltending matchup between King goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who faced 39 shots and Avalanche goaltender Stephane Fiset, who made 36 saves.

As always, playing a high-caliber team brought out a better performance from the Kings, who are 13-14-8, and have won only three times in the past 15 games, going 3-9-3. Of their 14 losses, six have been against sub-.500 teams--the Islanders, the Senators, the Bruins, the Sharks and twice to the Flames.

For the Avalanche, center Joe Sakic scored twice, unassisted, on the power play, putting on a goal-scoring clinic with a tremendous individual effort on the second goal. It was Sakic’s team-leading 25th goal of the season, tying the score, 2-2, at 10:29 of the second period.

It came with one second remaining on the power play as King forward Tony Granato had gone off for holding center Stephane Yelle at 8:30. Sakic, picking up the puck in the neutral zone, used his speed down the right wing, going around Gary Shuchuk and then Sean O’Donnell. Finally, he beat Hrudey on the far side, inside the left post.

In the last two games, the Kings have given up four power-play goals.

Earlier, Vitali Yachmenev’s goal, his 12th, broke a 0-for-16 drought on the power play, the Kings’ first in four games. The most recent King power-play goal was scored by defenseman Philippe Boucher on Dec. 13 against Ottawa.

For Yachmenev, it was the first goal he has scored this season without an assist from Wayne Gretzky. The goal gave the Kings a 2-1 lead at 5:45 of the second period. Defenseman Rob Cowie started it with a shot up the middle from inside the blue line, the puck went off Eric Lacroix and Yachmenev had smartly snuck in behind the defense.

It was his first goal in seven games and 25th point of the season, tying him again with Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson for the lead in the league’s rookie scoring race.

The Kings, who have been suffering from a series of injuries lately, had a brief scare at 5:34 of the third period when defenseman Darryl Sydor went down and was briefly shaken up.

Sydor had been hit from behind by right wing Adam Deadmarsh in the Kings’ zone. As he was falling down, Sydor went crashing face first into teammate Kevin Todd. But Sydor returned to the bench and went on to play a regular shift the rest of the game.

All the injuries forced Robinson to juggle the lines, and he even had defenseman Rob Cowie at left wing for part of the third period. Another result of the shortage of forwards meant more ice time for the likes of Kevin Todd, Robert Lang and John Druce. Todd, following a strong game in San Jose, turned in another strong effort against the Avalanche.

Lang scored the other King goal, at 9:05 of the first period and it broke a season-long, goal-less streak. It was his first goal in 27 games as his most recent goal was last season, on April 25 against Detroit. Assisting on his goal was defenseman Steve Finn and John Druce. For Druce, it was his sixth point in 27 games, and first since recording an assist on Dec. 6 against Winnipeg.

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King Notes

Joining forward Jari Kurri (broken right thumb) out of the action on Saturday was left wing Dimitri Khristich. Khristich, suffering from a concussion, was hit hard by Shark forward Owen Nolan at center ice with 1:49 remaining on Friday in San Jose. There was no penalty on the play. Khristich had 11 goals and 28 points in 34 games, which put him second among the Kings in scoring. . . . The last time a Kings’ coach lashed out about the officiating was Barry Melrose a couple of seasons ago, and he received a substantial fine. Although King Coach Larry Robinson fired off an expletive-laced blast at the officiating in Friday’s loss to the Sharks, no fine had been issued from the league office. If there is one, it would likely occur after Christmas.