Kings’ Fiset Up to the Task in a 6-2 Victory at Nashville

The Kings’ second power play Thursday night was ugly. Ugly as a Tennessee Titan uniform.

But the work of Stephane Fiset was a thing of beauty, perhaps ironic because he should have had the two minutes off. Instead, he found himself with Nashville’s Greg Johnson bearing down on him, short-handed goal in his sights after he had picked Garry Galley’s pocket at the blue line late in the first period.

Johnson sped up, shot and Fiset took the puck on his pads and turned it the other way. It proved to be the decisive play in L.A.’s 6-2 victory before 16,062 that was made easier by Fiset’s 34 saves.

“It was huge,” said Luc Robitaille, who had the Kings’ first two goals. “[Fiset] is back to where he was. He’s playing really well.”

And the Kings are the beneficiaries.

After Fiset stopped Johnson’s shot to keep the score tied, 1-1, the Kings went on the attack. Three seconds after their power play became history, they launched a barrage in which:

* Ziggy Palffy took a pass from Jozef Stumpel and shot, but was stopped by Nashville goalie Mike Dunham.

* Jere Karalahti shot off the rebound was stopped.

* Aki Berg rebounded and shot. Again no goal.

* Robitaille finished the play into what was then an open net.

Sixteen seconds later, Marko Tuomainen made it 3-1, and the Kings added goals by Bryan Smolinski and Bob Corkum in the second period and Ian Laperriere in the third.

Said Nashville Coach Barry Trotz: “I look at the end of the game and see we have 36 shots, so it was a pretty wide-open game, which you don’t want against L.A. . . . I see Robitaille a couple times on the sheet, but Tuomainen, Corkum and Laperriere, they aren’t really household names and those guys did as much damage as Robitaille.”

But not as much as Fiset.

He had struggled for a month while playing every game in Jamie Storr’s absence. Fiset developed bad habits and needed rest, although he won’t acknowledge it.

“I don’t think I had lost it,” he said. “I was trying too hard. Now I have my confidence back. I wasn’t having fun. Now I’m just playing and having fun.”

Making a save, then watching a tie turn into a 3-1 Kings’ lead was a hoot.

“I wasn’t making the big saves to keep the team in the game,” Fiset said of the troubles he hopes are behind him. “And I was giving up too many goals in the first period.”

Playing with a lead can be contagious. Fiset had a 3-0 first-period advantage Sunday against Colorado in L.A.’s 3-2 victory.

In their quest to stay in the playoff race, the Kings are looking for a hot goalie and Fiset shows signs of warming to the task.

“We’re looking for two hot goalies,” Coach Andy Murray said, because he knows the stretch run will be easier if Fiset and Storr are up to the task.

The victory came in the first of what has become a 19-game countdown against teams the Kings need to beat in the Western Conference playoff race to keep playing after April 9.

They joined Calgary and Edmonton at 52 points, tied for seventh in the West and playing better than they have in weeks.

“I told you last night that this could happen,” Robitaille said. On Wednesday, the Kings had lost, 3-1, at Dallas.

“We outplayed [Dallas], and we did it again tonight. If we keep doing that, we’ll beat most teams.”

Only with good goaltending.

“Sometimes the goalie’s going to have to win the game for you,” Fiset said. “I hadn’t been winning that many games for a while. When it’s working for you, you see every puck and it looks this big.”

He held his hands basketball-width apart.

“Everything is hitting your pads or hitting the post and your teammates are getting all the rebounds.”

And, on Thursday night, turning them into goals that moved the Kings a step closer to the playoffs.