Kings Knock Out Flyers in Second

The up and down Kings are at it again.

Behind a stellar performance by goaltender Stephane Fiset, the Kings defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at their own game and took home a 5-1 victory before 15,771 Friday night at the Forum.

What makes the Kings’ dominating win over last season’s Stanley Cup finalists so shocking is that two days earlier, the Kings suffered their second loss of the season to the Boston Bruins, the worst team in the NHL last season.

“We played with a lot more emotion and had a better jump in our legs tonight,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “It’s not like we played so bad the other night [against Boston], we just were off for three or four minutes in the game and made too many mental mistakes.”

The Kings had only seven second-period shots on goal but Vladimir Tsyplakov, Jozef Stumpel, Philippe Boucher and Ian Laperriere each scored a goal, and Fiset made 25 saves to win his second game of the season.

Team captain Rob Blake scored his first goal of the season, on a breakaway with 23 seconds left, to complete the scoring for the Kings (2-3-3).

“We still have things to work on but the most important thing is that the team is coming together,” Blake said.

After struggling defensively and giving up nine goals in the first two games of their current six-game homestand, the Kings took it to the Flyers, the biggest team in the NHL, and their star player, Eric Lindros.

From the opening faceoff, with solid play by defensemen Aki Berg, Sean O’Donnell and Blake, the Kings bottled up Lindros all game.

Friday night’s contest was important for the Kings because after a strong exhibition season, their optimism of ending a four-year playoff drought seemed to fade after the two losses to the Bruins.

“The last game, we had too many people running around,” Berg said about the Kings’ 5-3 loss to Boston on Wednesday. “We had lots of scoring chances, but we didn’t play [defense] like we are supposed to.”

The Kings came out strong against the Flyers and controlled play for most of the first period. Philadelphia was able to keep the game scoreless only because of several superlative saves by goaltender Garth Snow.

The Kings finally were able to get the puck past Snow when Tsyplakov, who had been in Robinson’s doghouse, put them ahead, 1-0, with his first goal, 39 seconds into the second period.

Stumpel, who had an assist on Tsyplakov’s score, gave the Kings a 2-0 lead with his team-high fifth goal at the 3:44 mark, Robitaille and Garry Galley recording assists.

Stumpel has scored in all eight games and his 13 points moved him into a tie for the league scoring lead with Lindros.

The Kings took what was then their biggest lead of the season at 14:29 when Boucher put them ahead, 3-0, with a goal from the slot after the puck had bounced off a Flyer’s stick. Glen Murray and Roman Vopat registered assists on the play.

After the Kings’ third penalty of the season for too many men on the ice, Philadelphia’s John LeClair, who agreed to a new contract with the team earlier in the day, scored a power-play goal at 16:32 to cut the Kings’ lead to 3-1.

With the Flyers adding more pressure, the Kings’ Dan Bylsma, recalled Thursday to bolster the defense, triggered a demoralizing goal.

After a save by Fiset on a Philadelphia breakaway, Bylsma made a nifty pass at center ice to O’Donnell, who fed Laperriere high in the slot. Laperriere then attempted a pass to Craig Johnson but the puck deflected off the skate of LeClair into the net to give the Kings a 4-1 lead with one second remaining in the period.