Less Than All Kings’ Men Are Enough for 2-0 Win

Back in September, not too many hockey experts predicted that the Kings would have gone into Wednesday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks with such a relaxed attitude.

With fifth place in the Western Conference already secured, the Kings left able veteran defensemen Rob Blake and Garry Galley at home, goaltender Stephane Fiset was in a backup role for the second game in a row and penalty killing specialist Ian Laperriere was a healthy scratch.

However, that didn’t stop the Kings from winning their third in a row as goaltender Jamie Storr recorded his second shutout of the season with a 2-0 victory over the Canucks before 15,239 at General Motors Place.

Jan Vopat scored his first goal of the season and Yanic Perreault added his 28th as the Kings kept their slim hopes of winning the Pacific Division title alive. They need to win their final two games against St. Louis tonight and the Mighty Ducks on Saturday, and Colorado needs to lose its last two against San Jose and Detroit.

Storr, who improved to 9-5-1 overall and 4-1 over his last five decisions, made 31 saves, including eight on Vancouver’s Pavel Bure, who was attempting to score his 50th goal of the season.

“Everyone picked it up tonight and played well but we have been all year,” Storr said. “It’s going to be a big bonus to have those guys back in the lineup but we just want to continue to work hard as a team and that’s what we did.”

For Vancouver, Wednesday night’s game did not have much importance since the Canucks had been out of serious playoff contention for weeks now.

But the Canucks did their best to try and get Bure his 50th goal. Since the Russian Rocket has made it no secret that he wants to play elsewhere next season, Vancouver fans came to cheer him reach the milestone in possibly one of his final games as a Canuck.

They also wanted him to reach 50 because it would mean a possible $3 million raise since his contract calls for him to have his salary upgraded to the average of the top three paid players in the league.

“Did he ever go off the ice?” King Coach Larry Robinson said about Bure, who played 26 minutes 27 seconds in 20 shifts. “He was out there all night.”

Even if Bure reaches the mark, he has restated his wish to play for a contender in a big market city.

“He came here as a young boy,” Vancouver’s Mark Messier said prior to the game about Bure. “Sometimes you just need a change. It doesn’t have to do with the people, city organization. Sometimes you need a life change to make yourself happy. Seven or eight years, that’s a long time [to play for one team].

“I certainly understand. The most important thing is for him to be happy because that’s when you play your best.”

With this in mind, Vancouver Coach Mike Keenan gave Bure plenty of ice time but Storr was on top of his game.

“He was pretty outstanding,” Robinson said. “It’s good that he got the shutout. He really deserved it. He played awfully well.”

After being outplayed for much of a scoreless first period, the Kings had a little more life in the second. They cut down on their turnovers and mental errors and took a 1-0 lead at 10:46 on Vopat’s goal off of assists from Vladimir Tsyplakov and Jozef Stumpel against goaltender Arturs Irbe, who was replaced by Garth Snow following the score.

For Vopat, who was playing with his brother Roman in the same lineup for only the second time this season, it was his first goal in 19 games and the sixth of his 63-game NHL career.

In the third period, the Kings put the game out of reach when Perreault scored from the left circle at 7:12, with Craig Johnson and Roman Vopat getting assists. It was Perrault’s third goal in his last three games.

“It was a tough game because they had nothing to lose and we still have a chance for first place,” Perreault said. “We tried to play our same game and go hard because that’s really the only way we can be ready. That’s the way we have to play.”

For Perreault, his scoring touch is coming back at the right time.

“I feel good, we have two games to go and I feel strong,” he said. “It’s nice to get a few wins together before the playoffs.”