Kings Take a Bite Out of Sharks, 4-3

The call went out Sunday night before the game began.

“We’re not going to have another one of those meetings tomorrow,” said one King to the other in a message that was passed from player to player.

Avoiding one of those meetings with Coach Andy Murray is like bypassing a session at the vice principal’s office, and goals by Bryan Smolinski, Dan Bylsma, Luc Robitaille and Donald Audette enabled the Kings to do just that.

But it wasn’t easy, and only a loose puck swept out of harm’s way in the final two seconds secured a 4-3 victory over San Jose, the Kings’ first at Staples Center, first in four games and an answer to a disaster two nights earlier against Phoenix.

“It was a big sign of confidence by [Murray], not only in me but in the whole team,” said goalie Stephane Fiset, who had 31 saves, one of them on a penalty shot by Mike Ricci at 19:09 of the second period, when the Kings had a two-goal lead.

“You know, he didn’t change the lines. He didn’t change a player. That shows a lot of confidence from him in us.”

After a 6-3 loss to Phoenix on Friday night, Murray held a meeting with the players on Saturday.

He let them know who was to blame for Friday’s loss, when the Kings lost a 5-1 lead.

“When you make big changes and switch people around, you’re making excuses for them, saying it was the line combinations that were wrong,” Murray said. “I believe in individual accountability and the guys didn’t get the job done.”

The same guys got it done Sunday, led by Fiset, who will give way to Jamie Storr for Tuesday night’s game against Washington.

“He played great,” said Robitaille, whose power-play goal in the second period extended the Kings’ lead to 3-0 and served notice that, for a change, there wasn’t going to be any sitting on a lead.

“The biggest difference [between Sunday’s game and Friday’s] is that our coach gave us a challenge [Saturday]. He wasn’t going to change the lineup, and he wasn’t going to take [Fiset] out even if he let in a couple of goals.

“You saw how he came out. He was unbelievable. It just shows what this guy is about.”

Fiset’s biggest save came on Ricci’s penalty shot, awarded by referee Paul Stewart when Fiset was detected throwing a stick at a shot.

Ricci gathered the puck at center ice, steamed in from Fiset’s left and the goalie took the puck off his glove.

As he has so many times in the past.

“I know him for a long time,” Fiset said. “I played with him for six years [with Quebec and Colorado] and I knew he wouldn’t deke me because I’ve dealt with him in practice and he never deked. So I waited for him to make the first move, and he shot it right on net.”

Said Ricci, who had scored the Sharks’ first goal on a five-on-three power play: “[The puck] jumped, but I got it under control. I’m knew what my job is there and I didn’t do it. Do the math. It was a one-goal game.”

It became one when Patrick Marleau popped a puck past Fiset at 17:24 of the third period after the Kings’ Aki Berg had turned it over, almost fanning on a clearing pass.

Ricci gathered it in, sent it to Alex Korolyuk and then to Marleau, who made it 4-3.

“The biggest thing tonight is that everybody worked hard for 60 minutes,” said Robitaille, who made an announcement on the bench after the goal that the game would end, 4-3.

“Bergie played a great game and just lost the puck at the end. We weren’t going to let that one go.”

Still, it couldn’t be easy. San Jose pulled goalie Mike Vernon with a minute to play, and the Kings’ Glen Murray hit the post on an open net.

The issue remained in doubt, and it was left for Fiset to deal with one more scrum in front of the net as the clock wound into its final seconds. A shot by Gary Suter was a challenge, and the puck was tantalizingly close to the goal line with two seconds to play before it was swept away by Smolinski with the Sharks’ Marleau straining to slap it in and tie the score.

The Kings finally had a win at the new digs. An announced 15,270 was there for that bit of history.

“We cared tonight,” said Robitaille. “We needed a win so badly tonight. I don’t care who we beat. We’re on a home stand and we didn’t start well, but we want to finish well.”

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BOSTON 3, DUCKS 2

Anaheim gets goals in the third period from Matt Cullen and Oleg Tverdovsky, but the rally falls short in loss to Bruins at the Arrowhead Pond. Page 4