Kings Aren’t Ruined by Fiset’s Rustiness

Maybe that’s the key. Get the game out of Edmonton, a hockey hotbed, and play it in Southern California, where it’s just hot for a January.

It sure helped the Oilers, who had two one-goal losses to the Kings in the frozen North, including one five days before they got a second-period goal by Ryan Smyth to earn a 1-1 tie Saturday night before 14,936 at the Great Western Forum.

Saturday’s draw ended a five-game King winning streak and created a bit of a speed bump in their trip up the Western Conference standings.

The tie was not all that unwelcome.

“I’m happy with the point,” said Luc Robitaille, who was honored between the first and second periods for having scored his 500th goal on Thursday. “When you play every other day, like we have lately, you get tired, and I thought we were flat.”

Teammate Rob Blake, who scored the Kings’ only goal, disagreed.

“It’s good to get the point, but we aren’t satisfied with it,” he said. “You can’t be satisfied with a tie when you are trying to make the playoffs.”

The Kings are 7-1-1 in their last nine games, and are 2-2-4 in overtime games.

They had been averaging just over four goals over their winning streak, but that was halted by Edmonton’s Bob Essensa, who had 29 saves after being victimized four times Tuesday night up north.

King goalie Stephane Fiset was playing his first game since Dec. 12, and his save of a shot by Todd Reirden on an Edmonton power play with 1:04 to play kept the tie in place through regulation. Fiset caught Todd Marchant’s shot from 20 feet out at 1:16 of the overtime to effectively finish off the Oilers.

Fiset’s rust had showed for 20 minutes or so. He kept Edmonton scoreless but was obviously shaky in doing so.

From there, though he gave up the tying goal in the second, Fiset seemed to have never left the lineup, which he has done three times because of groin injuries.

“That’s the only thing I was worried about, my groin,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous. I had confidence. I have been practicing pretty well, and I’m not really tired. But I was injured twice this season in the third period, so I never really forgot it.”

He preserved the tie earlier in the third, turning away a shot by Georges Laraque from close range; and 15 seconds later, Smyth from almost as close.

In all, Fiset faced 33 shots.

His mates seldom challenged his Edmonton counterpart, Essensa, until the third period, when things got a bit frantic, beginning at 11:30. That’s when Ian Laperriere bore in on him on a breakaway, only to see his shot from 15 feet swallowed in Essensa’s pads.

Essensa got a couple of breaks when the Kings’ Pavel Rosa and Yanic Perreault fanned on pucks centered into the goalie’s face during a third-period power play. Essensa’s final regulation-play challenge came when Vladimir Tsyplakov and Yanic Perreault worked a give-and-go from the Edmonton blue line, with Essensa taking care of Tsyplakov’s shot.

The Kings’ goal came on the power play, which has been flickering lately after being switched off most of the season. The power play generated a goal for the sixth game in a row--the Kings had won the previous five--and Rob Blake turned it on.

For a change.

Blake, who had seven assists over his last four games before Saturday, picked up his first goal since Oct. 28, banging in a shot for a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the first period. The goal was set up by a centering pass by Donald Audette, and it was Blake’s third goal in what has been a season truncated because of injuries and a suspension.

The Kings had been 6-0 when Audette had a point.

He later was assessed a game misconduct when he got into a third-period fight with Bill Guerin and it was found that Audette’s jersey was not tied down.

Blake’s goal was countered by a second-period power-play goal by Smyth, who batted in his own rebound at 7:21 after taking a centering pass from Guerin.

The tie ended a three-game King winning streak at home, where they are 7-10-3.