Kings Hit Road and It Doesn’t Hit Them Back

Before the start of the Kings’ five-game trip, goaltender Stephane Fiset said their goal was to return to Los Angeles with at least a .500 record.

On Tuesday, Fiset and Glen Murray made sure they did.

Fiset stopped 36 shots to record his 11th career shutout and Murray scored two goals to lead the Kings to a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils before 16,512 at Continental Arena.

The Kings, who also received a goal from Craig Johnson, improved to 6-6-4 and took sole possession of second place with 16 points in the Pacific Division, behind Colorado. The victory completed a 3-1-1 trip, giving the Kings, the worst road team in the NHL last season, a 3-3-4 record away from the Forum.

“Winning on the road is important [because] we don’t want the same thing that happened [last season] happening again,” Fiset said of the Kings, who had a league-low 24 road points last season. “This was really a big road trip for us and it’s good that we ended with everybody playing very well.”

After starting the trip with up-and-down efforts at Tampa Bay and Florida that resulted in three points, the Kings return home with impressive victories at Detroit and New Jersey, two of the best teams in the NHL.

The Kings were outshot by New Jersey, 36-21, but were able to keep the Devil power-play unit--which entered the game as the best in the NHL--scoreless in six opportunities.

“[Assistant] Rick Green works with our power play and he had our units playing very, very well tonight,” said King Coach Larry Robinson, who ended a four-game losing streak to the Devils and their coach, Jacques Lemaire, whom he worked with during their Stanley Cup season in 1994-95.

“We watched their play,” Robinson said. “The Devils are good at tipping shots and good at rebounds. [Fiset] controlled the rebounds and I thought our defense did a good job of clearing the rebounds and the guys in front.”

The offensive hero for the Kings was Murray, who tied a career-high for goals in a game. His two scores give him five goals and 11 points for the season and seven points on the five-game trip--not bad for a player who had been told by Robinson to shoot more since he was acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh last March.

“I realize now that I have to shoot more all of the time no matter where from,” Murray said. “Tonight, I was just shooting it and Yanic [Perreault] fed me a few times and it was good. We’ve been clicking on this road trip . . . hopefully, we can keep it going.”

After a scoreless first period, Murray scored the eventual game-winner on a rebound of a blocked shot by Perreault at 1:21 of the second period. It was only the fourth time in 14 games the Kings scored first.

Murray extended the King lead 35 seconds into the third period when he took a cross-ice pass from Perreault and scored from the right circle past New Jersey goaltender Mike Dunham, who started in place of regular goalie Martin Brodeur.

With a two-goal lead, Fiset faced every New Jersey scoring chance in the third period with confidence.

New Jersey, which had a three-game winning streak end, could not figure out Fiset, whose glove save on a shot by Doug Gilmour with 8:01 left sent most of the crowd rushing for the exits.

The Kings put the game away with 5:44 left when Johnson picked off an errant New Jersey pass in the Devil zone and scored his fifth goal.

“[The Kings] played well,” said Lemaire, whose Devils suffered only their second home loss of the season and their first shutout. “They were aggressive through the whole game, they never changed and played three periods the same way. The times they made mistakes, we never capitalized on them. We had a lot of good chances but never could score.”

The Kings will begin a six-game home stand Thursday when they host Tampa Bay.