Fiset Saves Day for Kings

The scoring drought remains for the Kings, but they are fortunate enough to have Stephane Fiset in goal.

Fiset made do with what he had Wednesday night, and while it wasn’t much, it was enough to give the Kings a 1-1 tie with Vancouver, which sits on the precipice between oblivion and a playoff spot.

The Kings merely sit on a plane reservations for Detroit or Colorado, one of which will be their playoff opponent.

The mission as espoused by Coach Andy Murray before Wednesday night’s game was “to win, 1-0.” That is a tribute to the King defense and goaltending and an indictment of the offense, struggling because of injuries.

Bryan Smolinski is out for the season because of a torn knee ligament. Ziggy Palffy has been out for three weeks because of a shoulder sprain. Rob Blake has a bruised knee. Nelson Emerson a broken finger.

What was left lined up against the Canucks in makeshift groups whose primary ploy was to dump the puck and chase it. From that, the Kings somehow answered a Mark Messier goal with one by Jaroslav Modry in the second period.

Modry’s score came on the Kings’ first power play, originated at the point and ricocheted off skates before sliding past Canuck goalie Felix Potvin, who was starting his 13th consecutive game.

It was Modry’s fourth goal and the Kings’ first on a power play since they got one at Boston almost two weeks ago.

Five games and 10 tries had come and gone since.

An even better opportunity presented itself at 18:45 of the second period when Brendan Morrison high-sticked the Kings’ Marko Tuomainen, who left a trail of blood from his face on the ice. Mattias Ohlund compounded matters when he hooked the Kings’ Jozef Stumpel to prevent a breakaway before the Morrison penalty could be whistled.

When it was all sorted out, the Kings had two minutes with a five-on-three advantage, then two more with a five-on-four, bridging two periods.

When the four minutes had been played, the Kings were still stuck on one goal--they have scored only five in their last four games--and Fiset was asked to make it all work.

It was nothing new.

Fiset has given up only four goals in his last four starts, and he has done so with efforts like that of Wednesday night, when he stared down first-period efforts by Brad May and Todd Bertuzzi, neither of which was heavily encumbered by defense; and second-period blasts by Trent Klatt and Peter Schaefer.

It got little better in the third, when Schaefer stole the puck at the blue line and had Fiset in his sights from point-blank range, only to come up empty with nine minutes to play.

And when Todd Bertuzzi found himself alone within a stick of Fiset for an instance, needing only to loft the puck with some speed, he instead found the glove Fiset threw aloft at 13:30.

The King offense was in its usual form, being outshot, 24-11, in the first two periods.

Fiset also got a bit of luck when Jason Strudwick’s long-range blast rang off the post with 1:45 to play, drawing a groan from the announced crowd of 17,257.

His job got no easier in overtime, when he sprawled on Mattias Ohlund’s shot to thwart yet another scoring try, then turned back Schaefer’s whirling blast from near the side boards.

That Modry’s goal wasn’t enough to earn the Kings two points and keep them that many ahead of Phoenix for fifth place in the Western Conference was the responsibility of Messier, who gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead 52 seconds into the second period.

His goal was the result of his loitering at the edge of the crease, there to receive a back-handed pass from Markus Naslund and merely poke the puck into the net.

Phoenix’s 3-2 victory over Nashville closed the Coyotes to within a point of the Kings. The gap is melting like ice in the Arizona sun. It was four points at midday Monday.

But the gap remains, with the Kings having two games to play to hold it, setting them up with a first-round playoff series with Detroit, the fourth-place team.

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CHICAGO: 5

DUCKS: 2

A disheartening loss to the Blackhawks means Anaheim’s drive for playoff berth is all but over. Page 3