Olczyk Delivers 1-0 Victory for Kings

For forward Eddie Olczyk, it was something of a natural hat trick. His wife, Diana, gave birth to their fourth child, Nicholas, at 5:20 p.m., at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He then made his way through Friday night rush hour traffic--no sweat, right?--left the hospital at 5:47 and walked in the door at the Forum in time to make his debut in a King uniform.

Finally, Olczyk commemorated the birth of his son and the birth of his King career with a second-period goal. And it wasn’t any ordinary goal as it broke a scoreless tie and helped give the Kings a 1-0 victory against the New York Islanders. It was their season opener at the Forum before an announced crowd of 15,757, making it the first time since 1989-90 that the Kings have not had a sellout for the season opener.

“It’s been a long 25 hours,” said an emotional Olczyk, who was still wearing his hospital bracelet after the game. “I wasn’t that stressed out. I was pretty pumped up. This puts everything all in perspective. The last couple of years have been tough. And without the support of my wife and family and friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today, like, literally here in L.A.”

Another new King, goaltender Stephane Fiset, made 26 saves and earned his seventh shutout. The last time the Kings had a shutout in the season opener was in the 1977-78 season, a 2-0 victory, against Cleveland.

But Fiset, in classy move, made sure he got the game puck and gave it to Olczyk.

“It was a nice thing to give him the puck,” Fiset said. “It was more important to him than it was to me.”

Said Olczyk: “He came over and said, ‘Give this to your son.’ It was unbelievable for him to think about it, to get me the puck. That’s the kind of makeup we have here on this team. That’s the kind of thing that brings together winners.”

So, how about giving Olczyk a day off? And his wife too.

Olczyk, who was signed as a free agent in July, has always been able to score goals when he gets the proper amount of ice time. He revived his career last season with the Winnipeg Jets, scoring 27 goals and 49 points in 51 games.

Obviously, with goal-scoring a concern here, Olczyk was brought in for that purpose, and to shore up the power play as well. The Islanders, like the Kings, are in the midst of a lengthy rebuilding process with five rookies in the lineup for the opener. And for some time, it looked like neither team was going to score Friday.

Finally, Olczyk stepped up. His goal came on the power play at 9:18 of the second period. The Kings had been given a four-minute power play when Islander center Dave Archibald speared defenseman Mattias Norstrom.

Olczyk and the Kings needed only 33 seconds to convert. They won the faceoff and defenseman Rob Blake slid the puck over to Norstrom, who was above the left circle. Norstrom got it on net and Olczyk redirected it past Islander rookie goaltender Eric Fichaud.

Fichaud, a 20-year-old from Montreal appearing in his 25th NHL game, was under siege the entire night, facing 30 shots through two periods. Fiset had a much easier workload but made several tough third-period saves.

“It’s not that hard when the team in front of you is playing that great, you just have to keep your concentration,” Fiset said. “I wasn’t trying to do too much. My defensemen were always there for the rebounds. I was nervous a little bit, but not too much. Everybody was ready.”

The other big story of the night involved Blake. It took less than 20 minutes for two questions to be answered. Yes, Blake’s slap shot is still intact after his prolonged absence from the lineup. And yes, his vaunted body-checking is still intact, although the Islanders weren’t after a few hits.

It was Blake’s first game with the Kings since Oct. 20, 1995, and his first game in front of King fans since Oct. 18. Knee surgery limited him to six games last season, and an elbow infection and partially torn tricep kept him out of the lineup the entire preseason.

“I was skating around in the warmups and I was thinking it had been 11 months since I had been out here,” said Blake, who played with extra elbow padding. “This is where I want to be. I know I haven’t helped out a lot the last couple of years and I want to put that behind me.

“I’ve missed enough. There wasn’t anything that was going to stop me tonight.”