Ducks Clap On Against Kings

There’s power in the Mighty Duck power play again, and it turned off the Kings’ lights Tuesday night.

The Kings are now trying to find a switch in the Pacific Division darkness.

A second-period goal by Vitaly Vishnevski, with the Kings’ Bryan Smolinski in the penalty box, sent the Ducks winging to a 5-3 victory, and started a miserable 9:09 that ended in goalie Stephane Fiset’s joining the announced 18,118 spectators at Staples Center.

From Vishnevski’s goal, his first in the NHL, through scores by Oleg Tverdovsky, Steve Rucchin and Paul Kariya, Fiset watched teammates’ support in front of him crumble into mistakes, misplays and misfortune, most of it because of misadventures that left him in the awkward position of being a target for a shooting Duck.

“From that point, we were getting beat on loose pucks,” King Coach Andy Murray said of Vishnevski’s goal. “They took advantage of a stronger work ethic during that phase of the hockey game.”

The King reaction to falling behind troubled him.

“The last I read, our budget was at about $35 million for players’ salaries,” Murray said. “Nobody should get down just because we got behind. It’s their responsibility to play hard.”

Said his counterpart, Craig Hartsburg: “Tonight we were opportunistic, that’s forsure. The power play came through for us when we had no momentum whatsoever.”

It could have been worse for the Kings. Fiset turned aside Matt Cullen’s breakaway at 15:59, an effort that was followed by Luc Robitaille’s holding penalty, which was followed by Rucchin’s power play goal for the Mighty Ducks.

Robitaille’s hold and Rucchin’s holding his hands aloft were separated by only 10 seconds, time enough for Kariya to send a pass to Teemu Selanne, who dealt it to Rucchin in open ice.

The Mighty Ducks have scored power-play goals in their last five games and have won three and tied two of them. They have nine power-play goals over those five games.

The Kings slipped to eighth place in the Western Conference, which is where they stop counting when playoff time begins. The Ducks, on the other hand, flew into ninth, only a point behind the Kings, whom they play four more times this season.

What you see setting in the West isn’t the sun. It’s the Kings, who have a problem with geography. They have beaten the Ducks only once in the last two seasons.

The Kings are 3-10-1 in the Pacific Division, and without points against their neighbors, the opportunity to continue to play after the regular season ends is severely impaired.

“I wish I could tell you what it is,” King defenseman Garry Galley said of their performance in the division and in a 1-6-1 record against the Ducks over the last two seasons.

“We’ve got to win those [four] games against the Ducks. That’s the playoffs right there.”

Said Selanne, who extended his point streak to eight games: “This is the time when we have to take off. Right now, our line [which includes him, Rucchin and Kariya] is playing well, but if we get goals from other guys, it’s a huge bonus.”

The Ducks were certainly efficient, with Cullen giving them a 1-0 lead only 2:49 into the game on their first shot.

By then, the Kings had tested Guy Hebert three times.

Cullen’s goal was countered by one by Jozef Stumpel on a King power play, and was scored back-handed when Galley sent him a pass.

Vishnevski broke the tie by taking a pass from Kip Miller and launching a shot from 40 feet, with Ted Donato and Galley screening Fiset.

From there, in rapid-fire order, came the scores by Tverdovsky and Rucchin, and Kariya punctuated the outburst by taking a Rucchin pass and breaking away from the pack.

Exit Fiset, enter Jamie Storr, for the first time since Jan. 26 and what was a warmup for his playing tonight at Phoenix.

He announced his arrival by handling Kariya’s shot on yet another Duck two-on-one in the period’s opening minute, and heartened by that effort, the Kings picked up a power-play goal by Glen Murray and a goal by Smolinski off a rebound of a Jason Blake shot.

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