Robitaille Gets His 1,000th Point

Luc Robitaille did not score a goal in the Kings’ 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames Thursday night but his two assists were good enough to give him 1,000 points in his career.

In his 882nd NHL game, Robitaille brought a Great Western Forum crowd of 9,586 to its feet late in the third period when he assisted Craig Johnson on a power-play goal.

“I think it means I’m old,” Robitaille said about becoming the sixth left winger to record 1,000 points.

“It’s a fun milestone to achieve but I want to keep playing. I expect to play a lot longer. There’s a lot more I feel that I can accomplish, I just want to move on.

“I knew it was going to come sooner or later.”

The Kings bounced back from a soft first period with four goals in the second as they extended their unbeaten streak to six games.

“We’ve said all along that the only way we’re going to keep pace or make some space for ourselves is to get on a little bit of a streak,” King Coach Larry Robinson said.

“These games are important and the most important thing for me is winning.”

Captain Rob Blake tied a career high for points in a game by assisting on all four goals in the second period, and rookie goaltender Jamie Storr came up big by stopping 28 of 31 shots to gain his third consecutive victory.

Ray Ferraro, Glen Murray, Garry Galley and Nathan LaFayette scored goals for the Kings, who improved to 22-19-9.

The Kings, who are 5-0-1 since Jan. 10, were outplayed by Flames in the first period as Calgary took a 1-0 on a rebound goal by Theoren Fleury. The Kings were scoreless in three power-play chances and were outshot, 9-5, in the period by the Flames, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back set after defeating the Mighty Ducks on Wednesday night.

In years past, the Kings would not have been a lock to pick up their play after a poor period, but this season’s team is different. Much different.

Led by the play of two of their older players in Ferraro and Robitaille, the Kings came out strong in the second period and quickly tied the score. With Johnson charging hard to the front of Calgary goalie Rick Tabaracci, Ferraro took in a pass from Robitaille and scored his third goal in his last four games at 2:18.

“Since we’ve put those guys together, they’ve been playing pretty well” Robinson said about using Ferraro and Robitaille on the same line. “The lines that I went to [against Calgary] actually was the same lines we used the last time we played them.”

One player who quietly is having a career season for the Kings is Murray, who made three consecutive plays that led to a 3-1 lead. After Jozef Stumpel, who finished with two assists, won a faceoff and Blake had a shot from the point blocked by Tabaracci, Murray scored on a rebound for his 15th goal at 7:52.

Less than a minute later, Murray’s tough play in front of the Calgary goal led to a penalty on the Flames’ Jonas Hoglund for hooking. On the Kings’ ensuing man-advantage, Murray was at it again as he screened Tabaracci on Galley’s fifth power-play goal of the season at 9:10.

With a two-goal lead, the Kings showed some killer instinct later in the period when Blake fired another shot from the point only this time, it slightly nipped off LaFayette to give the Kings a 4-1 lead at 14:17. Tabaracci was then replaced by Dwayne Roloson.

So over a span of just over 12 minutes, the Kings blew the game open with four unanswered goals with Blake getting an assist on each.

Calgary, which fell to 0-3 against the Kings this season, closed within, 4-2, with 1:14 remaining in the second period on a goal by Michael Nylander.

The Kings took a 5-2 lead at 15:13 of the third period when Craig Johnson scored his 12th goal following Robitaille’s historic assist. The Flames scored again to finish the scoring with 1:42 remaining on a goal by Erik Andersson and Storr kept them from getting any closer with 11 saves in the period.

“One thing [Storr] did really well was that he controlled the puck and moved it exceptionally well,” Robinson said. “Not so much that he clears the puck . . . but he was moving it well to give us a chance to make an offensive play.”