Kings Can Sensea Breakthrough

In another sure sign that their fortunes have changed, the Kings scored a goal Tuesday night when Adam Deadmarsh bounced a shot from the corner off the rear end of goaltender Corey Schwab.

And they didn’t even need it.

Deadmarsh’s third-period goal only provided insurance for the Kings, who extended their winning streak to four games with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of 19,320 in the Air Canada Centre.

The Kings are unbeaten in their last six games, 8-3-4 since Nov. 17 and have crept to within one game of .500 for the first time since Oct. 23.

They’ve killed 41 of 42 penalties over the last 10 games, including all six against the Eastern Conference-leading Maple Leafs. They’re scoring timely goals and getting solid goaltending from Felix Potvin and Jamie Storr.

Add in a little luck and it’s easy to see how the Kings have managed to turn their season around and throw themselves back into the playoff race.

“We were not getting those [breaks] at the beginning of the year,” said Deadmarsh, referring to his goal. “We were really having a tough time finding bounces, and that was a lucky bounce, no question.”

On Tuesday, the Kings got their first break before the game even started when it was announced that Schwab would be in goal for the Maple Leafs instead of Canadian Olympian Curtis Joseph, who leads the NHL with 18 victories.

CuJo had spent several days in bed because of flu.

He watched from the bench as the Kings outshot the Maple Leafs, 32-23, in his backup’s first home start this season.

The Kings, however, didn’t get their first goal until Steve Heinze scored his 11th during a five-on-three power play, finding the net from the left faceoff circle with 12:08 to play in the second period.

Fewer than five minutes later, with 7:40 remaining in the period, Ian Laperriere made the score 2-0 with his second goal in four games.

Skating away from the net in the right faceoff circle, Laperriere took a pass from Philippe Boucher, turned on a dime and rifled the puck past Schwab.

“I’d like to think tonight, with the way we out-chanced them,” Coach Andy Murray said, “that whether CuJo was in there or not, we win the hockey game.”

In perhaps their most impressive performance of the season, the Kings carried their two-goal advantage into the third period before Darcy Tucker scored with 9:31 to play, ending Potvin’s shutout bid and cutting the Maple Leafs’ deficit to 2-1.

Finally, the crowd had something to celebrate from the Maple Leafs, who had won their previous five games, seven of eight and brought a 12-4-1 home record into the game.

Before the fans could get too energized, however, Deadmarsh took a pass from Jason Allison deep in the left corner, his back almost up against the end boards, and unleashed what appeared to be a centering pass.

Instead, it glanced off Schwab’s “bum,” as Allison described it.

“Sometimes,” said Deadmarsh, claiming not to know how the puck wound up in the net, “I don’t ask how and I just walk off the ice.”

While Deadmarsh skated off after scoring his 11th goal, leaving him tied with Heinze for the club lead, the crowd went quiet again.

Only 69 seconds had ticked off the clock since Tucker’s goal.

Their two-goal lead reclaimed, the Kings went about completing their task, winning the first game of a three-game trip that includes games Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators and Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

“I think we’re feeling better about ourselves than [we did] a month ago, and we deserve that,” Potvin said. “We played a tremendous game. The guys played great in front of me, blocked a lot of shots.”

At the other end, most of the Kings’ shots made it through to Schwab.

“I really noticed our team coming together the last couple weeks--just playing solid hockey and paying attention to detail,” Deadmarsh said. “We knew we were struggling scoring goals, but we figured if we didn’t allow any, we were going to be in tight games and would give ourselves a chance to win.

“And as of late, the pucks are starting to go in for us.”

Whether by design or not.