Belanger Makes Mark in 4-1 Debut for Kings

Uh, Jozef Who?

Had Jozef Stumpel signed with the Kings this week, as many--including some in management--hoped, Eric Belanger would have been dispatched to Lowell of the American Hockey League, his NHL debut on hold.

Instead, Stumpel remains a holdout in Slovakia and Belanger set up two Luc Robitaille goals and scored one himself Friday night in the Kings’ 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in their season opener before 18,082 in the MCI Center.

Oh, and before a television audience that included a sports bar with a dish in Sherbrooke, Canada, with Roger and Louise Belanger hosting and toasting their son; and one in Quebec City, with fiance Alexandra Morin accepting congratulations.

“It’s a movie,” said Belanger, the youngest King at 22 but already savvy about his Southern California environment. “When you watch movies, something like this happens, but you don’t think it’s going to happen to you.”

Why not?

“He was real nervous this morning,” said Robitaille, who played on the line with Belanger and Ziggy Palffy. “That kid came to camp and nobody even mentioned his name. Everybody wrote about the camp Steve Reinprecht had, and he had a good camp, and they mentioned a couple of defensemen, but you never heard about Eric Belanger. . . .

“I told him he belongs here. He played great in camp, and he deserved to be here tonight, I told him. He has got great skills.”

That was shown quickly enough when Belanger spent his first shift getting the puck to Robitaille, who popped a shot over the left shoulder of goalie Craig Billington for a 1-0 King lead.

Only 1:36 had elapsed in the season.

“I’ve been watching him play since I was 10 years old,” Belanger said of Robitaille, his fellow Quebecois. “There’s not a better way to start in the NHL [than skating with him and Palffy].”

Responded Robitaille, laughing at the “10 years old” line: “Don’t say that.”

Robitaille had not scored in the Kings’ exhibition games. It was the 12th opener in his 15 NHL seasons in which he has had a goal, a record for active players he shares with Dallas’ Brett Hull.

Only 1:44 later, Rob Blake fired from long range, the puck again sailing over Billington’s left shoulder.

King goalie Jamie Storr had a 2-0 cushion. He faced 20 shots in his first season opener in his seventh NHL season.

The quick Kings’ start, in one man’s opinion, came because of defense.

“We knew it was their night,” Robitaille said of the hype surrounding Washington’s home opener, at which a banner was raised by the Southeast Division champions.

“We had a bunch of hits right away. We came out hard.”

Harder than the Capitals.

“I’ve seen this happen lots of times, where they raise a banner and you come out a little tentative and nervous at the beginning and, before you know it, you’re behind the eight-ball,” Washington Coach Ron Wilson said.

“We were down, two-zip, right off the bat, and when you’re a team that has to play defensively and chip away, then you’ve got to open up before you’re ready to open up.

“Ideally, if we could have gotten off to a better start and scored the first goal, you might have seen a completely different result.”

Instead, the Kings got Robitaille’s second goal at 10:54 of the opening period, when he and Belanger were sailing down the ice with only the Capitals’ Joe Reekie between them and Billington. Belanger sent the puck to Robitaille on the left wing, and he lofted it over the prone Reekie and into the goal for a 3-0 lead.

There was no question who was going to take the shot.

“When you’re playing on a line with Luc Robitaille and Ziggy Palffy, you’re going to give it to them,” Belanger said, laughing.

Flush with a 3-0 lead, the Kings played strong defense and killed seven of eight penalties. Washington’s goal came from Calle Johansson, who scored 47 seconds into the second period while on a 5-on-3 power play.

But Belanger negated that by pounding a rebound of Palffy’s shot through Billington’s legs at 17:12 of the second, and accepted congratulations for his first NHL goal.

Management’s acknowledgment was matter of fact, not effusive.

Said Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, after acknowledging Belanger’s performance: “We still want to sign Stumpy.”

“He had a pretty good game,” said King Coach Andy Murray, who is 2-0 in season openers as an NHL coach and now must keep a young player on an even keel with another game tonight at Buffalo.

No, not a pretty good game.

A movie, with a chance for a few sequels.