Kings Recognize Too Late There Is Trouble in Storr

The Kings are ready to send a get-well card to goalie Stephane Fiset after watching a Staples Center sieve in front of their net Sunday night.

Jamie Storr, who had seen Steve Passmore throw a shutout against Boston two nights earlier, was back on the job for the Kings, but his work ended only 9:17 into the second period of Phoenix’s 6-5 victory before 14,457.

“It was just one of those things,” Storr said. “I came into the game with enough hopes and expectations, and I feel bad. It’s hard to let the guys down. When the offense gets five goals, you should win the game.”

When the opposition gets six goals in only 11 scoring chances--as judged by the Kings’ coaching staff--”we should win something like, 2-1,” said Coach Andy Murray, who added that he didn’t second-guess his decision to bring back Storr after Storr had lost his starting job Friday to Passmore as punishment for missing a morning meeting.

The coach also didn’t second-guess pulling Storr Sunday.

“I felt there were two reasons [for the change],” Murray said. “First of all, the guy wasn’t getting the job done. And, I felt we needed [a spark]. Those were enough good reasons for me. I didn’t need a third one . . .

“Tonight, I just feel Jamie should have stopped more pucks. I feel for Jamie right now. I’m not mad at him. I feel for him in this situation.”

That empathy won’t keep Murray from starting Passmore on Tuesday night in Nashville, barring a change of heart.

It wasn’t that Passmore stopped the Coyotes in their tracks. He staunched the bleeding in the second period after Storr had given up three goals on six Phoenix shots. But goals by Phoenix’s Brad May and Joe Juneau in the third negated the Kings’ rally, and Juneau’s came from far outside on a power play and sailed over Passmore’s shoulder.

“He probably should have stopped that one,” Murray said. “As it turned out, it was a key goal.”

As it turned out, there were several key goals, including a controversial score by the Kings’ Glen Murray only one minute into the game. The puck sailed wide of the goal, but somehow climbed the net and stopped under the crossbar as the red light blazed.

So did the temper of Phoenix Coach Bobby Francis, who demanded play be stopped as vociferously as Andy Murray demanded the puck be dropped and play resumed with the Kings up, 1-0.

After a review of the goal was inconclusive, the Kings had the lead for the sixth game in a row.

Keith Carney and the Kings’ Luc Robitaille then traded first-period goals. Carney’s goal was the first the Kings have given up in the opening period this season.

“The first period was a frustrating period for us,” said Francis, whose Coyotes had beaten Philadelphia, 6-3, a night earlier.

“We had to make adjustments, and we controlled our emotions in the second period. The guys really took command, and they came out and made a statement saying, ‘We are not going to take it.’ ”

However, the Kings were giving as well as taking, starting with a long-range goal by Phoenix’s Travis Green to tie the score, 2-2, only 40 seconds into the period.

“There was no excuse for that one,” Storr said. “It was a tough one. I let Phoenix back in the game.”

Two goals by Phoenix’s Jeremy Roenick made it 4-2. On the second, Keith Tkachuk flipped a puck in the air around the crease. Roenick reached up, got the puck, put it down on the ice and backhanded it past Storr, who was excused from further duty.

“If you looked up at the shot clock, you saw they had 11 shots and four goals,” Storr said. “Maybe change is good. The guys responded to Stevie . . . but the game shouldn’t have gotten to that point.”

Murray was perplexed that it had, benching the line of Bryan Smolinski, Glen Murray and Nelson Emerson for much of the second period after it had been found wanting, particularly on defense.

“We threw everything but the kitchen sink at them in the third period,” the King coach said of his team’s rally after a second-period goal by Ziggy Palffy made it 4-3.

“Where was some of that in the second period?”

Emerson’s goal and another by Palffy provided little consolation for the Kings, who have lost seven times in a row to Phoenix in Southern California.

“The offense was great, the defense battled hard and we scored five goals,” Storr said. “This one is a little tougher to take.”