Dehydration Knocks Out Fiset, but Dafoe Is There to Get Save

King goalie Stephane Fiset returned off the injured list to face his old team and turned in one of his best efforts of the season in the Kings’ 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night at the Forum. Too bad he wasn’t there to finish it.

The Kings received a scare when Fiset left the game 1:08 into the third period after falling to the ice in pain. At first, it appeared that he had aggravated an abdominal injury that had kept him out of the lineup the last two games, but according to the Kings, he left because of dehydration. He was taken to Centinela Hospital in Inglewood for treatment.

Before he left, however, Fiset gave the Kings a huge lift by stopping 28 of 29 shots. His play, along with goals by Brad Smyth, Philippe Boucher, Steven Finn and an open-netter by Dimitri Khristich, helped the Kings win before 12,217 and end a three-game home losing streak.

“Everybody got their nose dirty tonight and that’s what we need in order to win games,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “We’re a team and that’s what we want to be known as. A team that’s tough to play against.”

With Colorado resting all-star goalie Patrick Roy, the Kings had to sweat things out in the third period after Fiset went down. The Avalanche took advantage of Byron Dafoe quickly to cut the lead to 3-2 at the 6:24 mark when Adam Deadmarsh whacked in a shot past the King goalie, who was blocked out by teammate Doug Zmolek.

Dafoe then came through with several outstanding saves on high-scoring center Joe Sakic and an open attempt from the crease by Scott Young. The Kings’ defense, which was effective the entire game, also helped with several key clears in the final minutes and then Khristich’s goal clinched it after an assist from Eddie Olczyk with 1:04 left.

“I’m just getting warmed up now,” Dafoe said. “We wanted to get two points against Tampa [a loss on Wednesday] because we knew that the schedule will only get tougher. This was a big morale lift for us.”

Fiset was especially sharp in the first period with 13 saves, including several efforts that seemed to inspire the Kings’ defense. In one sequence, he blocked a hard shot from the slot by defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh and then swatted away left wing Rene Corbet’s rebound shot from the crease.

With 4:15 remaining in the first period, Smyth’s hard work paid off when he deflected in a shot by Yanic Perreault from the crease to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

With the Kings’ short-handed early in the second period, Colorado tied the game on a rebound goal by right wing Keith Jones at 7:16.

Center Ian Laperriere, probably the Kings’ scrappiest player, set up their second goal. After serving a holding-the-stick penalty, Laperriere skated out of the penalty box to lead a two-on-one breakaway with Boucher. With a perfect cross-ice pass from the left side, Laperriere assisted on Boucher’s first goal of the season to give the Kings a 2-1 lead at 10:30.

Another unlikely combination led to the Kings’ third goal when enforcer Matt Johnson dug out the puck from behind the Avalanche net and assisted to Finn at the center of the blue line. Finn beat goaltender Marc Denis high to his glove side to score his first goal of the season and give the Kings a two-goal lead at 12:59.