Oilers Can’t Recall Rally

The last time the Kings played the Edmonton Oilers, they took a 2-0 lead before giving up eight unanswered goals.

The Kings again jumped to a two-goal lead Wednesday night, but this time they finished what they started with a 5-1 victory to end a three-game losing streak before 14,039 at Edmonton Coliseum.

Goalie Byron Dafoe stopped 33 shots and came within 4.4 seconds of recording the second shutout of his career, and defenseman Rob Blake scored a goal and assisted on another as the Kings gained their first win of the season against a Pacific Division opponent.

The win not only avenged last month’s 8-2 loss to Edmonton, the Kings (10-10-3) also cooled off a hot Oiler team that had won three consecutive games, the most recent a 10-1 victory at Calgary on Tuesday.

“I feel that I’m on top of my game right now,” said Dafoe, who had won five consecutive games before losing at Tampa Bay last week. “I would like to push for more starts, but I know I have to win in order to do that.”

The Kings’ power-play killing unit was again impressive. The Oilers, who had scored a power-play goal in 19 of their first 24 games, were 0 for 7 against the NHL’s second-best penalty killing team.

After being criticized by Coach Larry Robinson for lack of effort in their recent slump, the Kings took it to the Oilers (12-12-1) with aggressive checking and by out-hustling Edmonton on rebounds.

“We played really smart against a team with great speed,” defenseman Doug Zmolek said. “We didn’t force anything and we were lucky that they didn’t get any goals on their power play.”

Blake got the Kings off fast with a power-play goal 4:51 into the first period when he whacked a shot past the mask of Edmonton goalie Bob Essensa from outside the top of the right circle. It was Blake’s third goal, all on power plays.

After stopping the Oilers on three consecutive power plays, the Kings took a 2-0 lead late in the first period. Blake dug out the puck from behind the Oilers’ net after a shot by Ian Laperriere and found winger Vladimir Tsyplakov inside the left circle for his sixth goal, with 41 seconds remaining.

“I was definitely thinking about the last game when we were up 2-0,” Robinson said. “But, in that game, Edmonton got us away from our game plan and really took it to us. This time, we were able to keep control. But I’ve always said that it helps when a team has played the night before. It just takes a little step away.”

From there, the Kings’ defense and Dafoe took over. Every time the Oilers came close to scoring, they found a wave of black jerseys around the Kings’ net.

The score remained 2-0 until late in the third period when the Kings had an offensive breakthrough with three goals. Rookie Dan Bylsma scored his first NHL goal, Dimitri Khristich scored his sixth and Ray Ferraro added his team-high ninth, all within a five-minute span.

Dafoe lost his shutout when Luke Richardson scored with 4.4 seconds left.

“That was tough to give up,” Dafoe said. “I would have loved to have had a shutout, but I’d rather give up a goal like that with a five-goal lead than if we were only up by one.”

King Notes

Left winger Kevin Stevens did not play because of a back strain but is expected to play tonight at Calgary. . . . The Kings’ family night package for Saturday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Forum is sold out, but 300 regular seats are still available.