Blake Gets Tough Break in Kings’ Victory

The long-awaited victory the Kings have been needing the last three weeks finally came Thursday night at the Forum. But with it came a big loss.

Five players scored and goaltender Byron Dafoe made 27 saves as the Kings ended a seven-game winless streak with a 5-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes before 12,560.

However, defenseman Rob Blake suffered a broken hand in the first period and is expected to be out four to six weeks.

“Every time we win we somehow lose,” Coach Larry Robinson said. “[Blake’s injury] is just a small setback; I’m not overly worried because it’s nothing he can’t come back from.”

In playing their most complete game since defeating Colorado on Dec. 7, the Kings gave the type of effort that had made them one of the surprise teams in the NHL earlier in the season.

Sparked by the aggressive play of defensemen Doug Zmolek and Mattias Norstrom--who stepped up after Blake’s injury--the Kings scored on goals by Philippe Boucher, Brad Smyth, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Steven Finn and Eddie Olczyk to improve to 13-19-4 and move one point ahead of the Mighty Ducks in the Pacific Division.

“It’s been a long time since we had smiles on our faces around here,” said Dafoe, who improved to 8-6-1 in defeating Phoenix for the second time this season. “I think we all got our Christmas wish today.”

It did not take long to notice that the Kings looked different. Starting with a breakaway attempt by Ray Ferraro and a rebound follow by Olczyk in the game’s first minute, the Kings were clearly the dominant team as they scored on three consecutive first-period shots.

The Kings broke a 0-for-39 power-play streak with their first goal at 3:18 when Boucher used a screen by Kevin Stevens to whack in a blue-line slap shot for a 1-0 lead. It was their first power-play goal since Dec. 5 against Tampa Bay.

Ferraro then helped the Kings open a 2-0 lead when he dug out the puck from the right corner to set up Smyth’s seventh goal of the season at the 7:35 mark.

The Kings took a 3-0 lead on a brilliant play by Dimitri Khristich and Tsyplakov at 11:52. Khristich set up the play with a stop-and-go move and cross-ice pass to Tsyplakov, who beat Phoenix goalie Nikolai Khabibulin with a shot from the right circle for his ninth goal of the season.

After scoring three goals in only eights shots in the first period, the Kings outshot Phoenix, 13-12, in the second but did not score. The Kings definitely had their chances, thanks to a near five-minute power play, which included two two-man advantages near the midway point of the period.

The Kings were scoreless in eight shots on goal during their extended power play and the Coyotes made them pay less than a minute after both teams reached full strength with a goal by Keith Tkachuk to cut the Kings’ lead to 3-1 at 9:58.

Tkachuk scored his 21st goal of the season 43 seconds into the third period as the Coyotes closed to 3-2.

The Kings answered with Finn’s second goal of the season at 5:36 after an assist by Vitali Yachmenev to take a 4-2 lead. Olczyk delivered the game’s final goal with an empty-net score with 12.2 seconds left for his ninth of the season.

“It got a little tense when they scored their second goal, but Finner came through with a big goal for us,” Dafoe said.

King Notes

Forward Matt Johnson sat out his third consecutive game because of a right shoulder injury and forward Yanic Perreault sat out his sixth in a row because of a abdominal strain. . . . The Coyotes had won four of five before Thursday. . . . The Kings play Colorado at the Forum on Saturday night.