Kings Play Like Champions Against Toronto Again

If the Kings could play Toronto more often, they would probably be in a playoff race instead of hoping to get in one.

The Kings extended their unbeaten streak to four games over the Maple Leafs this season by rallying for a 4-4 tie Thursday night before 9,189--the smallest Forum crowd since Dec. 3, 1987, when the Kings played host to Winnipeg.

After two dull periods, the Kings and Toronto combined for four goals in the third period as the Kings improved their record to 3-0-1 against the Maple Leafs in their battle for last place in the Western Conference.

The Kings now have 45 points with a 19-31-7 record, one point ahead of the Maple Leafs, who are 21-34-2.

The Kings, who had 55 shots on goal, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead early in the third period on goals by Vitali Yachmenev, Sean O’Donnell and Eddie Olczyk. But, the Maple Leafs responded with goals by Doug Gilmour and Dave Ellett to take a 4-3 lead before Jan Vopat tied the score at 11:54.

Since taking a five-game unbeaten streak into the All-Star break in late January, the Kings have struggled to get back into the playoff picture and pointed to this stretch of the schedule--with 12 of 15 games at home--as their last hope.

The Kings have been hampered the last month by their inability to have their regular lineup on the ice. Against Toronto, the Kings had more starters back than in recent games, but they were still without forwards Dimitri Khristich and Yanic Perreault, who did not play because of injuries, and Matt Johnson, who sat out the third game of his four-game suspension.

Goaltender Byron Dafoe started for the first time since injuring his thumb against Calgary on Feb. 3. He finished with 26 saves as he improved to 11-10-3.

After losing at Anaheim on Wednesday, 5-2, the Maple Leafs jumped on top of the Kings early, Left wing Wendel Clark scored at 6:36 of the first period when he knocked in a rebound from the slot after a wraparound attempt by Mats Sundin was blocked by Dafoe.

The Kings had a chance to tie the score a few minutes later when Toronto had Jamie Baker and Gilmour in the penalty box for slashing and roughing penalties respectively. But despite six shots on goal, the Kings came up empty against Maple Leaf goalie Felix Potvin and Toronto kept its 1-0 lead at the end of the period.

Early in the second period, Potvin again came up with a big save as he stopped a slap shot from inside the blue line by Olczyk. The Maple Leafs then took a 2-0 lead when right wing Sergei Berezin skated untouched from the neutral zone to the slot and slapped the puck between the legs of Dafoe at 6:05.

The Kings answered less than 70 seconds later when Ray Ferraro made a perfect drop pass to Yachmenev, who scored from the right circle to cut the Maple Leafs’ lead to 2-1 at 7:09. It was Yachmenev’s fifth goal of the season and his first since scoring against Hartford on Jan. 30.

Potvin continued to make big saves for Toronto as the Kings turned up their offensive pressure. Their best chance to tie the score came when Kevin Stevens was stopped from the slot by a Potvin glove save.

The Kings finally were able to tie the score, 2-2, on a late goal by O’Donnell, who also had two assists in the game. The play was led by veterans Rob Blake, Olczyk and Stevens, with O’Donnell picking up a rebound of a shot by Blake and scoring his second goal of the season on a backhand from the right circle with 6.3 seconds remaining in the period.

In the third period, the Kings came out more aggressive and it paid off when Olczyk scored on a rebound for a power-play goal at 4:23 to give the Kings a 3-2 lead.