Kings Marshal Their Forces and Stave Off Canadiens, 4-2

The Kings are like settlers, their numbers ever diminishing while they try to hold on to the wagon until the cavalry finally arrives.

Saturday night, goalie Jamie Storr and winger Brad Chartrand came riding to the Kings’ rescue in a 4-2 victory in which Storr stopped 25 Montreal shots, several in spectacular fashion. One of his saves, on a penalty shot, deflated many of the announced 19,250. And Chartrand scored twice.

The victory was the first for the Kings in Montreal since 1990, which means it was their first at Molson Centre. They are 8-43-11 in this city of heretofore downright inhospitable hockey teams.

“I don’t want to make of it more than it is,” King Coach Andy Murray said of winning where the Kings seldom have, and of doing so with so many top-line players injured. “Certainly, I was grateful for the two points, and I thought we competed better tonight. When Montreal beat us, we didn’t compete as well.”

That was in a 5-3 loss Nov. 20, and at the time it was the Kings’ second defeat in a row. It was the only time all season they have lost consecutive games.

They made certain it wouldn’t happen again, a night after dropping a 3-1 decision at Detroit. The Kings scored twice on power plays to take a 2-0 lead, then turned things over to Chartrand, Storr and the defense.

Storr set the defensive pace by stopping Martin Rucinsky’s penalty shot at 5:51 of the opening period.

Rucinsky got the shot when Mattias Norstrom took him down in open ice.

Storr went out to meet the penalty shooter before retreating.

“I thought the guy was going to poke-check me and I didn’t make a move,” Rucinsky said. “Then I tried to go five hole [between Storr’s legs].”

Rucinsky thought exactly what Storr wanted him to think.

“As soon as he got to the line, I went out and then came back,” Storr said. “I didn’t want him to deke me, and I opened my stick so he could see holes all over the place and just shoot.”

Storr took the shot off his pads and kept the Canadiens scoreless at home on penalty shots for the last 12 years.

They last scored against Hartford in 1987, when Storr was 12.

From there on, Storr was in charge, save for a 76-second span of the third period when, he admitted, “things got away from us.”

The Kings had built a 3-0 lead against Montreal goalie Jeff Hackett, who was his own worst enemy when he wasn’t having lousy luck.

Bryan Smolinski’s goal gave the Kings a 1-0 lead, and it was launched from an angle at which it was impossible to get the puck in the net without help. That came from Hackett, who played the puck off his arm and into goal..

The goal came on a power play that Montreal Coach Alain Vigneault said was a self-inflicted wound, after Igor Ulanov earned four minors for battering Craig Johnson.

“That was not a very bright penalty,” said Vigneault, who is playing his own game of attrition with seven players sidelined.

“[Ulanov] snapped and put his team in jeopardy.”

Smolinski seized the opportunity with his deflected goal with 10 seconds left in the first period, and Garry Galley, operating on the same power play to open the second, batted a rebound over Hackett.

Chartrand’s goal came at 8:49 of the period when the puck was deflected past Hackett by Montreal teammate Patrice Brisebois.

Vigneault had seen enough summoned Jose Theodore to finish. He held the Kings at bay, and the Canadiens got goals by Jim Cummins and Sergei Zholtok within 1:16 of each other early in the third period to cut their deficit to 3-2.

After Murray called time out the Kings righted themselves.

They also got a break when Chartrand, who was on the ice with Smolinski and Glen Murray in place of Donald Audette to provide extra defense to the second line, became offensive again.

He sent a pass to Smolinski, who sent it to Murray, who got it back to Chartrand, who put it in the net for a 4-2 lead with 1:15 to play.

The Kings, finally, could exhale.

“Well, you remember we gave up two goals late to Tampa Bay,” Storr said. “You can’t ever exhale in this league. But it did make things easier.”

It also kept the Kings on a playoff path, even without some of their key performers. They are 6-5-3 since losing Jozef Stumpel; 6-4-3 since losing Stephane Fiset; 2-1-1 since losing Ziggy Palffy; and 1-1 since losing Rob Blake, all to injuries.

Not bad numbers for a team holding the fort until help comes.