Flames Leap Past Kings With 2-1 Victory

The importance of this game between the Kings and Flames--a 2-1 victory by Calgary--was revealed before the puck was even dropped on Saturday.

King left wing Kevin Stevens, who hadn’t played in a week because of a strained back, joined the team here in mid-trip. And King left wing Dimitri Khristich taped up his sprained left knee and joined the fray.

As for the Flames, goaltender Trevor Kidd was down and out during the pregame warmup session after taking a blast off his shoulder from teammate Theoren Fleury. Still, Kidd played on.

The Flames have moved ahead of the Kings in the Western Conference standings for the first time, as Kidd, pushing his undefeated streak to six games, made 17 saves before 18,923 at the Saddledome. Calgary (19-23-10) is in seventh place with 48 points, two ahead of the Kings (17-24-12), who are tied for eighth with Winnipeg.

The Kings ruined Kidd’s shutout bid with 1:30 remaining in regulation on Khristich’s power-play goal. Defenseman Philippe Boucher started it off with a blast from the point, and Khristich and Stevens were alertly stationed at the net and Khristich got it past Kidd.

Stevens assisted on the goal for his first point as a King, and he got stronger as the game went along, finishing with three shots on goal.

Yet the Kings’ abysmal road record continued as they have not won a game outside of California since defeating St. Louis on Nov. 7. They are winless in their last nine away from the Forum (0-7-2) and have won only one of their last 19 on the road, going 1-15-3.

Goaltender Byron Dafoe was sharper than he has been in quite some time, but his personal winless streak grew to seven games, 0-6-1. Through two periods, Dafoe gave up only one goal as left wing Gary Roberts scored on the power play, at 18:30 of the first, after Boucher had gone off for tripping German Titov at 18:22.

On the goal, Dafoe made the initial pad save off a shot from defenseman Zarley Zalapski up the middle of the slot. But the rebound went right to Roberts, who was alone at the base of the right circle, and he had plenty of time to put it into nearly an open net.

Roberts, who sat out the first 42 games because of neck surgery, has had a stellar comeback. He had 16 points in his first eight games before New Jersey ended his point streak Thursday.

The other Calgary goal was by defenseman Steve Chiasson, who scored on a slap shot from the left point at 3:38 of the third period to make it 2-0. Then Kidd and the Flames shut down the Kings until the final 1:30.

Although Kidd didn’t have much work, the Kings helped him by failing to convert on their infrequent opportunities. Khristich missed two open nets, defenseman Marty McSorley shot over an open net and Stevens tried to redirect a pinpoint pass from Wayne Gretzky 52 seconds into the second period but was stopped by Kidd.

Kidd has given up only 17 goals in his last 10 starts.

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King Notes

Wayne Gretzky revealed his future plans--he’s going to play for Team Canada in this summer’s international hockey tournament, the World Cup. The first game is scheduled for Aug. 29, with a couple of weeks training beforehand. . . . Left wing Dimitri Khristich, who was questionable because of a sprained left knee, was able to play against the Flames and skated on a line with center Yanic Perreault and right wing Vitali Yachmenev.