Kings Gushing After Beating Oilers, 4-3, in Overtime

With six wins in seven games, including Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers, the Kings have suddenly passed Chicago . . . and Calgary . . . and Vancouver.

They have caught Nashville and San Jose for eighth in the Western Conference, more than half a season from any kind of playoff impact, but light years from where the Kings were only two weeks ago, back when they considered the standings like a bad movie.

Why watch?

That’s what four wins in a row, six in the last seven games will do for you.

And Tuesday’s win “was big,” Coach Larry Robinson said. “It was huge.”

It was a game the Kings had, lost, then found on Craig Johnson’s goal at 1:07 of the overtime, his first overtime goal in his career.

“It definitely feels good because it’s been a long time since I’ve scored a goal,” said Johnson, who took a pass from Pavel Rosa and beat defenseman Marty McSorley before firing past Edmonton goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov. It was Johnson’s first goal since Dec. 12, when he scored against Vancouver. That’s nine goal-less games in a row.

“I was going to try to beat [McSorley] wide and then it just opened up and I shot without looking,” Johnson said.

The puck sailed into the upper-left corner of the net, above Shtalenkov’s stick.

It ended “a very weird night,” said Edmonton’s Bill Guerin. “It seemed like guys were going down like flies in the first period . . . then the overtime goal was a perfect shot. I mean perfect.”

The Oilers lost Kelly Buchberger because of a broken arm and Roman Hamrlik because of a concussion, both in the first period.

It also ended a night when most of the noise by the announced 14,370 on hand was made whenever Team Canada scored a goal against Russia in the Junior World Championships a cross-country ski trip away in Winnipeg, but on the Skyreach Centre video board whenever time was out.

Scant moments before Johnson’s goal beat Edmonton, Russia scored an overtime goal to beat Team Canada, 3-2, something those in the building were kept ignorant of until they slogged out to the parking lot and called a tow truck to start cars in minus-20 or so degree temperatures.

Call it inconvenience added to depression, times two.

They had perked up when the Oilers fashioned a third-period tie on a power-play goal by Josef Beranek that was the result of a King penalty-killing faux pas. Yanic Perreault had the puck in traffic in his own zone, then turned it over trying to pass it to the middle.

“All he had to do was clear it off the boards,” said Robinson, who preaches puck- and lead-protection, particularly in the third period, particularly on the road.

Beranek’s goal brought the Oilers back from a 3-1 deficit. The Kings scored on goals by Luc Robitaille in the first period and Donald Audette and Perreault in the second, and Edmonton got goals from Todd Marchant and Bill Guerin in a second period that both defenses took off.

And the Kings extended their defensive respite in trying to hold the lead.

“We played soft in the third period, and they took it to us,” said Robinson, plainly displeased with a 20-minute segment in which the Kings were outshot, 14-4.

The difficulty in pulling the game out was turning the energy back on for the Kings. “That’s hard,” Robinson said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

In this case, they staggered into overtime, from which Johnson took care of business to keep several streaks alive.

Among them:

* The Kings have scored power-play goals in all four games of their winning streak. Audette’s third goal of the season came on a power play.

* The Kings are 6-0 in games in which Audette has a point.

* Robitaille’s goal was his 498th, and also his 20th of the season. He has 20 goals in 12 of the last 13 seasons.

* The Kings have won four in a row on the road.

And now they come home, to face Buffalo on Thursday night.

“We need to get some wins at home,” Johnson said.

The Kings are only 6-10-2 at the Great Western Forum, a large part of the reason they were in such dire straits before all this winning and climbing in the standings started.