Kings Doing Fine Minus the Top Line

Jozef Stumpel and Luc Robitaille, resplendent in GQ-approved mufti and reporting themselves on the mend, were watching the rest of the Kings play Tuesday night when Stumpel said:

“They’re playing well without us. Think how good they would be with us.”

Robitaille laughed.

Uh, guys, about that healing business.

Take your time.

Goals by Vladimir Tsyplakov, Bryan Smolinski and Donald Audette, and another sterling performance by another replacement, goalie Jamie Storr, gave the Kings a 3-2 victory over Chicago at Staples Center. It ran their record to 3-1-1 since Stumpel was found to have a sports hernia that required surgery and Robitaille learned he has a broken bone in his left foot.

Storr’s record is 3-0-1 since Stephane Fiset suffered a bruised right hand.

It helped that the game was against the Blackhawks, who last beat the Kings on Feb. 2, 1997, when the Kings’ home was still the Great Western Forum. The streak of futility reached 10 games.

An announced crowd of 12,980, smallest of the Kings’ home season, watched Tsyplakov and Smolinski score 38 seconds apart in the first period, then was occasionally bemused by a game that largely lacked artistry, save in occasional spurts.

Not that there was much artistry needed. With 28 points, the Kings are atop the NHL standings. At 13 points, Chicago is only one ahead of Calgary as the Western Conference’s bottom-feeder.

But that was hardly apparent in the third period, when the Blackhawks outshot the Kings, 23-1.

At one time, the barrage forced King Coach Andy Murray to call a timeout and give a red-faced lecture.

Most of Murray’s messages have been taken to heart this season. This one was followed by a goal by Chicago’s Eric Daze, only 28 seconds later.

That merely cost Storr his shutout. It hardly endangered his history of success against Chicago. He has beaten the Blackhawks five times in six games, with two shutouts.

Shot No. 22 became a Tony Amonte goal that heightened Murray’s blood pressure and will doubtless engender another lecture at practice today about turning things on and off.

Tsyplakov’s goal was his third of the season, all scored in his last three games since taking over for Robitaille at left wing on a line that includes Len Barrie subbing for Stumpel and Ziggy Palffy playing the role of Ziggy Palffy.

Tsyplakov sent the puck to where Rob Blake intended it when he unleashed a slap shot from 50 feet away that was rejected by Blackhawk goalie Steve Passmore.

Blake and Barrie earned assists on the play.

On the next shift, it was Smolinski’s turn, helped by Glen Murray and Garry Galley. Murray sent in a centering pass to where Smolinski, the line’s center, was hanging out, largely unopposed for a 2-0 lead.

From there, the brakes were applied.

Donald Audette broke through the doldrums with a second-period arrow-shot in which he sent a three-inch puck 40 feet through a six-inch hole between Passmore’s stick and the goalpost.

The shot was taken from the left wing, where Audette doesn’t particularly like to line up, but from where he is largely effective once play in set in motion.

The rest of the game was largely mailed in by the Kings, who are 9-1-2 in their last 12 games. But they spent the third period making a very un-special delivery that included Storr’s final save: a stoppage of Amonte’s tiebreaking attempt, a shot in Storr’s face with 7.8 seconds to play.