Lefebvre Created Fleury of Activity

It was a good example of NHL justice. New York’s Sylvain Lefebvre was the transgressor, so it was only natural that his teammate Theoren Fleury should be punished.

The incident occurred just as the horn sounded, ending the first period of the Kings’ 5-5 tie with the Rangers on Thursday night. Lefebvre punctuated the period by chopping the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy with a stick, cutting his tongue and dropping him to the ice.

Palffy’s teammates saw their high-scoring winger bleeding and decided that the proper reaction was to punish the Rangers’ Fleury, in a sort of Old Testament, winger-for-a-winger justice.

“You don’t want to be undisciplined,” King winger Kelly Buchberger said of the process Friday. “I think we showed a lot of discipline.”

And a lot of revenge in still managing to keep their game under control while meting out punishment.

By evening’s end, only goalie Stephane Fiset, who was otherwise occupied, had failed to take a run at Fleury who, to his credit, took the pounding and at the end of regulation time was still going at the Kings’ Luc Robitaille in a penalized effort to let everybody know he wouldn’t be cowed.

Everybody, in this case, included the fans in sold-out Staples Center, at whom Fleury shook his stick while sitting in the penalty box.

“He can take hits and dish them out,” said Buchberger, who goes all the way back to midgets with Fleury. They grew up 15 minutes apart in western Canada and saw each other plenty when Buchberger played for Edmonton and Fleury for rival Calgary.

“He sometimes invites that sort of thing,” Buchberger said of Fleury.

In this case, Lefebvre invited it for him.

TONIGHT

vs. Tampa Bay, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KSPN (1110).

* Records--Kings 15-9-7, Lightning 9-15-3-2.

* Record vs. Lightning--(1999-2000) 1-0-1.

* Update--Tampa Bay’s road record is 2-11-2-2, worst in the NHL. Only Columbus, with seven, has fewer points on the road than Tampa Bay’s eight, and the Blue Jackets have played three fewer games away from home. The Lightning has only four points since Thanksgiving, but one of them came in a tie at Colorado on Tuesday night. Fiset will be in goal for the Kings.