Lowly Kings Topple the Avalanche

DENVER — Rookie goalie Jamie Storr had 34 saves and Glen Murray scored twice as the Kings beat the league-leading Colorado Avalanche, 4-2, Sunday night.

Rob Blake’s goal at 10:37 of the third period broke a 2-2 tie, and Murray clinched it with an empty-netter with 20.6 seconds left.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche have the NHL’s best regular-season record (49-24-9) and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason, starting at home Wednesday against eighth-seeded Chicago.

“This win means more because you’ve beaten the best team in the league,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “It’s good to take into the off-season. We have a great young team. I expect us to be better in the future.”

The Avalanche has lost six of its last 10 games. Four have come against the Western Conference’s worst teams--the Kings, San Jose (twice) and Toronto.

The Kings, suffering their fourth consecutive losing season and absent from the playoffs since going to the finals in 1992-93, were outshot, 36-23, but got brilliant goaltending from Storr, who was starting only his fourth game of the season.

The Kings scored the game’s first goal six seconds after a tripping penalty on Peter Forsberg early in the first period. After a faceoff, Mattias Norstrom took a shot from the point that was deflected by both Phillippe Boucher and Ray Ferraro, with Ferraro awarded his 25th goal at 2:48.

At 16:57, the Avalanche tied it when Claude Lemieux passed from the right circle to Keith Jones, just inside the left circle, who beat Storr. The goal broke a 10-game goalless streak for Jones and six-game scoreless streak for Lemieux.