Avalanche Falls When Kings Crash the Net

Whenever the Kings are on top of their game, opposing goaltenders have to deal with an aggressive team crashing the net at will.

That was the case Saturday for Colorado’s Patrick Roy.

Led by right wing Sandy Moger’s two goals, the Kings made Roy’s afternoon miserable as they dominated the Avalanche on both ends of the ice in a 5-2 victory before 15,867 at the Great Western Forum.

After a scoreless first period, the Kings--who had Jozef Stumpel back in the lineup after he missed three games because of a bruised kidney--scored four unanswered goals before Roy was pulled by Colorado Coach Marc Crawford and replaced by Craig Billington 44 seconds into the third period.

Vladimir Tsyplakov added a goal and two assists, and Ian Laperriere had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who have won four of their last five games. Dan Bylsma also scored a goal and Philippe Boucher had two assists.

The Kings won for the second time in three meetings with Colorado this season.

King goaltender Stephane Fiset lost his shutout bid midway in the third period but still finished with 29 saves to set a career high with his 23rd win of the season.

“We’re starting to prove to good teams that we’re going to come out strong every game and make teams get used to our style,” said Moger, who has 11 goals this season. “At the beginning of the [season] we didn’t get going sometimes until halfway into the second period. Now, we are starting to get to teams early and put them away right away instead of rebounding back like we had been.”

For the sixth consecutive game, the Kings scored first when Moger skated hard to the net and knocked in a rebound with a backhand shot at 9:47 of the second period after Rob Blake’s breakaway attempt was blocked by Roy.

King center Ray Ferraro got the play started when he dug out the puck along the boards and passed to Blake, who outskated Avalanche defenseman Alexei Gusarov to the puck.

Colorado, which has an 11-point lead over the Kings in the Pacific Division, found itself down by two goals less than four minutes later.

Moger scored his second goal when he attacked the net and knocked in another rebound--this time off Boucher’s blocked shot--at 13:45.

Laperriere gave the Kings a 3-0 lead when he completed a three-on-one rush with a goal from the right circle at 17:26.

“We made a mistake by getting trapped in the zone,” Crawford said of Colorado’s second-period collapse. “We made the same mistake. We were always chasing from behind and we were so far behind, [the Kings] got the rebound chance all three times. . . . Our forwards were really guilty of cheating [offensively].”

Trailing, 3-0, Roy didn’t last long into the third period when the Kings’ top scoring line of Glen Murray, Tsyplakov and Stumpel skated untouched into the Avalanche zone leading to the fourth goal of the game. Murray and Stumpel recorded assists as Tsyplakov scored his 16th of the season from the slot 44 seconds into the period.

“We seem to have more confidence when we play against the better teams,” Stumpel said. “We have trouble against teams below us and I don’t know why. But, I guess it’s a good thing going into the playoffs.”

Later in the period, the Kings gave Billington the same treatment when Bylsma scored off assists from Laperriere and Boucher at 5:15.

Colorado, which played without injured center Joe Sakic, scored two goals 30 seconds apart by Shean Donovan and Valeri Kamensky to avoid being blanked for only the second time this season.

For Fiset, who improved to 8-3-2 in his last 13 starts, the win may have been against his former teammates but it’s even better that it’s coming at this time of the season.