Cousineau Minds Net for Storr

Marcel Cousineau got by with the help of his friends Tuesday night.

A lot of help.

From a lot of friends.

Cousineau, along on the two-game trip as a goalie insurance policy, was cashed in for the final two periods when Jamie Storr suffered a groin strain stopping a breakaway 17:27 into the Kings’ 6-2 win over Colorado at the Pepsi Center.

The victory broke a two-game losing streak, and the game ended under a dark cloud. Storr was injured when he went down to block a shot by Joe Sakic. He stayed down briefly, rose to play the final 2:33 of the period and then sat in a tunnel alongside the bench, becoming president of the Cousineau fan club.

Cousineau, who started the day by giving up two goals by Brady Murray, the high school freshman son of King Coach Andy Murray, during the morning skate, surrendered only one when he had to face the professionals. That came from Dave Reid and was mixed among Colorado’s 21 shots in the final 40 minutes.

“We played well defensively when I got in, and I got a couple of goals behind me, which helped,” said Cousineau, who came over in a June trade from the New York Islanders with Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski as seemingly an afterthought.

“That’s what a backup goalie has to do: Always be ready. I’ve done this before.”

He did it in Toronto and with the Islanders. And he has to come back tonight at Dallas, with Mike O’Neill being called up from Long Beach to back him up. Storr will be unable to play, according to King trainers, and Stephane Fiset, who played in 14 of the Kings’ first 16 games, is still not recovered from a hand injury.

Several things worked in Cousineau’s favor Tuesday night, including goals by Vladimir Tsyplakov and Rob Blake 52 seconds apart. Cousineau had a 3-1 lead to nurse and had played only 2:28.

Also, the Kings outshot Colorado, 6-0, in that span.

By game’s end, the Kings had their largest scoring output of the season.

“That helped a lot,” Cousineau said of the pressure-reducing offensive benevolence. “You get a good feeling right away when you get a lead like that.”

More help came from a King defense that took things personally around the net.

“We just played the system,” insisted Smolinski. “You can’t just say, ‘Don’t let them shoot.’ ”

No, but you can say, “Don’t let them get a rebound,” which is what the Kings did. When a shot went goalward, their primary concern was knocking any Colorado player in the vicinity into the third row.

“In the first half, we had played a little sloppy,” said Blake, who added his 10th goal later in the second period and worked a give-and-go with Jason Blake for Jason’s first goal of the season.

“We knew we could play better.”

That they did. They also made the Avalanche play tired, which is the sort of thing that can happen when you play two games in as many nights in different cities. Colorado won at Dallas Monday night.

“When you are playing two games in two nights, you have to find a way to win,” Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley said. “We had a great first period. We could have put them away, but our focus was not in the right spot and we made some defensive decisions that a team with the offensive depth of the L.A. Kings will make you make.”

Translated, Colorado was flush with the return of Sakic, out for the last five games because of a rib injury. He scored on a power play at 12:08 of the first period--his 999th point with the franchise--and had a couple of other chances but couldn’t reach No. 1,000.

After Cousineau gave up the goal to Reid that cut the King lead to 3-2, he got additional support in the form of goals by the duo of Blake and Blake and a third-period score by Glen Murray.

Murray also scored while Storr was in net, and that enabled Storr to leave in a 1-1 tie.

Cousineau’s win was his fourth as an NHL goalie, against nine losses and a tie. And the idea of two games in two nights does not daunt him.

“I’ve done it in the minor leagues lots of times,” he said. “I’ve had three games in three nights in three cities and ridden buses between them, eating pizza.”

Tuesday night, it was a charter plane to Dallas, where, if he wants, there is 24-hour room service. And a game to play tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champion.