Hot Kings Still in Streaking Distance

It should come to no surprise that defense is the main source behind the Kings’ recent success.

After listening to pleas to be more aggressive from Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Robinson all season, the Kings have finally begun to play their coach’s way. Saturday night they extended their winning streak to five games and won for the first time in four years at Vancouver with a 3-0 victory over the Canucks before 17,492 at General Motors Place.

The last time the Kings won more than four consecutive games was in 1992 when a Tom Webster-coached team won eight in a row.

Ray Ferraro, Brad Smyth and Jeff Shevalier scored goals and goaltender Stephane Fiset recorded his fourth shutout of the season as he frustrated Vancouver’s top scorers--Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure and Martin Gelinas--for the second time in eight days.

Fiset, who has given up only nine goals in his last seven starts, blanked Vancouver, 4-0, at the Forum two Saturdays ago and now has 10 shutouts in his career. The closest the Canucks came in their last 120 minutes against Fiset, who made 35 saves Saturday night, was midway in the third period when Gino Odjick had a goal disallowed because he kicked the puck into the net.

“Good defense is really a team thing,” defenseman Mattias Norstrom said. “The last five games, we’ve really played like a unit all over the ice and not just on offense. That makes it easier for the defense. But ultimately, [Fiset] has been playing unbelievable. It’s just now he doesn’t have to face 45-50 shots every night. During the streak, we’ve won facing 18 shots and tonight we faced [35 shots]. If we can keep it up the way Steph is playing, we are going to be in every game.”

The Kings have 56 points and moved within three of tying the Mighty Ducks and Chicago for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth.

“I think the team is in the zone right now,” said Fiset, who has helped the Kings outscore their last five opponents, 19-5. “If we’re not, I sure can’t wait until we get there because right now we’re in the [playoff] race.”

The Kings got off to a solid start against Vancouver when their penalty-killing unit, which has ranked among the league’s best all season, kept the Canucks scoreless on their first power play.

With defenseman Steven Finn, who was in the lineup for the first time in nearly two weeks, serving a two-minute roughing penalty, the Kings stopped the Canucks’ power play, which entered the game eighth in the league with 40 goals.

Vancouver registered six shots on Fiset but came away empty because of the physical play of the Kings’ defensemen Doug Zmolek, Norstrom, Jan Vopat and Aki Berg.

After killing the penalty, the Kings’ power-play unit scored the game’s first goal when Kai Nurminen knocked down a Vancouver clearing pass. Eddie Olczyk ended up with the puck in the left corner and passed to a charging Ferraro, who scored from the slot for his 20th goal of the season and first in almost a month.

A Dan Bylsma-centered checking line led to the Kings’ second goal. Vopat missed wide right with a slap shot and Smyth picked up the rebound, skated around the net and beat Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean with a wraparound shot at 17:30. The goal was Smyth’s eighth of the season and his first since Dec. 26.

Shevalier scored the Kings’ third goal at 1:24 of the second period. With the puck in Vancouver’s zone, Shevalier gathered in a Canuck turnover and faked out McLean before scoring his fourth goal of the season from the left circle.

With defenseman Rob Blake and forwards Kevin Stevens and Ian Laperriere sidelined because of injuries, the Kings suffered another blow in the second period when forward Dimitri Khristich was ejected for slashing. He is expected to sit out two games.

“The difference now is that we’re more unified,” Smyth said. “Everyone is jelling and we’ve been getting phenomenal netminding. We just have to keep it up.”