Kings Get the Better of This Brawlgame

The Kings may not yet be known as a physical team around the NHL, but they left the Chicago Blackhawks fighting mad Sunday after defeating them, 4-2, before 18,584 at the United Center.

Left wing Dimitri Khristich broke out of a scoring slump with two goals and an assist and goaltender Byron Dafoe won his fifth consecutive game by stopping 30 of 32 shots as the Kings improved to 9-7-3 and 5-1-3 over their last nine games.

The Kings, however, will remember their victory over the Blackhawks more for a fight-marred third-period that had 58 minutes in penalties.

After left wing Vladimir Tsyplakov scored his fourth goal of the season to make it 4-2 at 2:50, a hard check by the Kings’ Ian Laperriere on Gary Suter triggered a series of fights. King right wing Kai Nurminen--not known for fighting--fought Denis Savard at 15:38, but that was only the undercard.

With less than two minutes remaining, Chicago wanted revenge on Laperriere and went with a physical line of enforcers--Jim Cummins and Basil McRae on the wings and Bob Probert at center.

The brawl started with 24 seconds left, when the Kings’ Dan Bylsma fought Cummins on one side, while Probert and King enforcer Matt Johnson squared off at the center circle. The only problem was that Probert refused to drop his stick and he shook it at Johnson. After no real punches were thrown, Johnson and a couple of his teammates went to the aid of Bylsma before the officials could stop the fighting.

“I know they took exception to Lappy’s hit, so I kind of thought that they were out to get him,” said Johnson, who lost a fight to Probert in the Kings’ 2-1 loss at Chicago on Oct. 29. “So, they put all of their big guys out there.”

Added Coach Larry Robinson: “[The officials] lost control with the first fight. They should have put everybody that was out there in the penalty box then. But they didn’t. I saw it coming.”

Cummins was penalized two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and five minutes for fighting to go along with two 10-minute game misconducts. Probert was given five minutes for cross-checking and received a 10-minute game misconduct along with a match penalty.

“It’s good to know that when you get in trouble that your back is protected,” said King center Ray Ferraro, a 13-year NHL veteran. “I haven’t seen something like that in a long time. All I know is that was the first time that I ever faced off against [Probert].”

As for the game, the Kings started sluggishly against Chicago, which has a better record on the road (5-2-2) than it does at home (5-7) this season. The Blackhawks had a 11-1 lead on shots on goal by the midway point of the first period against Dafoe.

“We knew that they like to start off coming at you really hard,” said Dafoe, who improved to 5-1 this season. “For the first 10 minutes, they came at us, but we did a good job of limiting their scoring chances.”

The Kings got their first break 13 minutes into the period when center Yanic Perreault was tackled by Chicago’s James Black. The Kings’ power-play unit needed only 30 seconds to capitalize as they scored the game’s first goal on Khristich’s rebound shot from the slot at 13:48. It was his first goal since Oct. 12 against Washington, a 14-game span.

“I was getting a little upset,” said Khristich, whose rebound shot deflected off Chicago’s Chris Chelios for his fourth goal of the season. “I was glad to finally get some luck when [Chelios] knocked it in.”

The Kings took a 2-0 lead 48 seconds into the second period when Vitali Yachmenev scored on a rebound from the slot for his third goal of the season. The Kings increased their lead, thanks to a check by Tsyplakov, when Khristich scored an unassisted goal at 11:45.

With a three-goal lead, the Kings saw their advantage slip away once they stopped attacking. Chicago scored on James Black’s fifth goal of the season and with 32 seconds remaining in the period, Tony Amonte scored his team-high 10th goal.