Slow Start Is Costly for Kings

The Kings should have known they were in for a long night against Montreal after a basic play led to the Canadiens’ first goal less than three minutes into the game Saturday at the Forum.

Montreal’s Valeri Bure had his shot from the left circle blocked by King goaltender Stephane Fiset, but instead of having the loose puck cleared from the crease, King defenseman Garry Galley slightly bumped into Fiset and the Canadiens’ Vincent Damphousse was able to score easily at the 2:47 mark.

The rest of the game was not much better for the Kings as they made one miscue after another and saw their two-game win streak end with a 4-1 loss to the Canadiens before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

Damphousse doubled his goal total for the season with three scores and added an assist on a third-period goal by Martin Rucinsky to lead Montreal to its fifth consecutive victory and improved the Canadiens’ NHL-best road record to 6-1.

It wasn’t as if the Kings did not play hard, they simply weren’t sharp enough to win against the skillful Canadiens, who improved to 11-4-2. For every misfired shot on goal, the Kings followed with a blocked entry pass or an untimely collision with a teammate. It just wasn’t their night as they dropped to .500 at 7-7-4.

The Kings are 2-7-4 in games in which they failed to score first. The Canadiens improved to 9-1-1 when they lead after the first period and 11-0 when they are ahead after two periods.

“We don’t play good from the start,” King center Ian Laperriere said. “Not when we get down 2-0 like that. We have to be ready right from the start. [Falling behind] has cost us some games already this season.”

The Canadiens finished last season in disarray and were bounced out of the first round of the playoffs. During the off-season, Montreal replaced Coach Mario Tremblay with Alain Vigneault and so far the change has worked.

Not only have the Canadiens been stingy on defense, giving up only 36 goals in 17 games, but they have scored more road power-play goals than the total road goals they have given up, 11 to 10. A big reason for their success has been the work of assistant Dave King.

“We were just one step behind all night and we didn’t play as physical as we could have,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “But, then you can’t touch what you can’t catch.”

“[The Canadiens] are the fastest team we have played this year. They play their positions well, and were jumping on the loose pucks all night.”

Montreal took a 2-0 lead at 7:47 when Damphousse scored a power-play goal from the right post. Benoit Brunet and Sebastien Bordeleau had assists on the play.

With a two-goal deficit, the Kings got physical with several crushing hits led by Glen Murray and Ian Laperriere. But their intensity was not matched with any goals as Montreal took a 2-0 lead into the second period.

It did not take long for Damphousse to complete his hat trick when he fought off the Kings’ Steve McKenna to score at 3:39 of the period. It was Damphousse’s 10th career hat trick.

“I’m really happy with the game tonight,” Damphousse said. “To get three goals and to have all three off of rebounds. It was that type of game.”

The Kings finally got on the scoreboard when Jozef Stumpel took in a pass from Luc Robitaille and scored his seventh goal at 4:07 of the second period to cut Montreal’s lead to 3-1.

Montreal goaltender Andy Moog, who suffered a knee injury in the first period, left with 8:11 remaining in the period. But the Kings could not capitalize against replacement Jocelyn Thibault.