Allison Receives Passing Grade

For most of the third period Wednesday night, it looked as if the Kings were going to waste a stellar effort by goaltender Felix Potvin.

Jason Allison would have none of it.

Taking advantage of a lucky bounce, the burly center scored a goal with 3:25 to play in regulation, extending his career-high point-scoring streak to nine games and giving the Kings a 1-1 tie against the Phoenix Coyotes in front of 12,902 at America West Arena.

“He’s a clutch guy, a guy that’s going to help your team win close games,” teammate Steve Heinze said. “He got it done when it counted.”

The tying goal, ruining a shutout bid by Coyote goaltender Sean Burke, actually started out as a pass, Allison powering past defenseman Todd Simpson and carrying the puck down the right side and deep into the Coyote zone.

As he crossed the goal line and angled back toward the middle, Allison slipped a pass back across the goal line and toward the front of the net.

His target was Heinze, but the puck never got to him.

Instead, it was intercepted by defenseman Radoslav Suchy, who inadvertently redirected it between the goaltender’s pads into the net.

“I thought it would be sitting there for me to whack at it,” Heinze said, “and I kind of wound up to whack at it and then I saw [teammate Adam Deadmarsh] celebrating. And I looked behind [Burke] and saw the puck in the net.”

Burke kept it out in overtime, stopping four shots, among them two from point-blank range during a King power play in the last 28 seconds.

First Jaroslav Modry rifled a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that Burke kicked back out to the defenseman. Modry quickly slid a pretty pass through the slot to Allison, but Burke stopped Allison’s shot from just outside the crease.

“He made a great play on it,” Allison said. “I think he was probably reading the pass because it’s impossible to get over there that fast if you don’t see it coming. I was just trying to get it up high fast, in case he slid across, like I figured. But I didn’t think his whole body would be there. He made a great save.”

For the Kings, the tie wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad.

Shane Doan had given the Coyotes the lead with 18:04 to play in the third period, scoring on a breakaway after taking a pass from Daymond Langkow as he steamed into the King zone, and Burke seemed ready and able to make it stand up.

“I thought we responded pretty good after they scored,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “We came right back at them and had some good chances and really forced the issue after the goal. So I was pleased with our response.”

Murray sensed that the Kings would be up against a determined foe.

Though the Coyotes lead the Kings in the Western Conference standings, their cushion is only one point. Neither team holds a playoff slot.

Also, the Coyotes had entered the Christmas break in a foul mood, having scored only one goal while losing twice in three days to the Mighty Ducks last weekend, dropping the second game, 4-0, on Sunday at Phoenix.

The local newspapers suggested ever so subtly that it might be time for General Manager Mike Barnett to make his first trade.

“They’re going to be angry tonight,” Murray said before the game. “They’re going to want some redemption. I expect them to play really hard.”

He told his players as much.

“When you’re preparing yourself to play,” Murray said, “you always have to anticipate how your opponent’s going to want to start and you’ve got to make sure that you don’t allow them to get you back on your heels.

“Let’s get them back on their heels and let’s right away take them out of any comfort zone they want to be in. Let’s set the tone of the game. You’d like to be able to do that. That’s what Anaheim did so well here the other night.”

The Coyotes had been outscored, 17-4, in the first period of their previous seven games. They started quickly against the Kings, creating a pair of quality scoring chances in the early going, but had nothing to show for it.