Storr Returns in Triumph, 5-0

Yes, there were two goals by Rob Blake and one each by Jaroslav Modry, Jozef Stumpel and Eric Belanger, but five goals haven’t been enough to win some games for the Kings lately.

Not with gracious goaltending and passive penalty killing.

But on Saturday night, the penalty-killing units excelled and in doing so simplified Jamie Storr’s job in a 5-0 victory over Calgary in which there were as many punches as shots at Staples Center.

It was exactly what the Flames, who were playing their third game in four nights, didn’t need.

Storr was tested only 22 times in his return to the net after six games of watching Steve Passmore.

More important, only six of those shots came on Flame power plays, of which there were eight.

Three of those came in garbage time, when the only issue left in doubt was Storr’s second shutout of the season, ninth of his career.

“There was a little more commitment,” said Blake. “You’ve got guys like Kelly [Buchberger], Bob Corkum and Lappy [Ian Laperriere]. Those guys lie down in front of shots, and that rubs off on other guys.

“Another game a week or so ago in Dallas, we blocked 30 shots. That’s a commitment to the little things to win games.”

The penalty killing included a two-minute run in which Buchberger was off the ice for five minutes after mixing it up with Calgary’s Derek Morris, and the Kings’ Laperriere had been excused for the evening for fighting with Jeff Cowan.

To make it even more difficult, the power play came when Blake was serving time for tripping Jarome Iginla.

The rest of the Kings held Calgary shotless in the power play, which spilled into the first 37 seconds of the second period.

And it included four minutes assessed Stu Grimson for roughing Wade Belak--the two also fought in the first of a two-round bout--at 18:17 of the second period.

Again, even with intermission to rest and regroup, the Flames went shotless with a man advantage.

To make matters worse, Belanger’s goal came short-handed, when Glen Murray picked off a puck, sailed in against the Flames’ Tommy Albelin and found Belanger alone to deal with Calgary goalie Mike Vernon.

More important, Storr was not challenged, a key when the Kings were winning games for Passmore only a couple of weeks ago.

“It feels good because you just want to get in there and freeze the puck when you have to and help the team win,” said Storr, who appeared before the entire coaching staff Friday to talk about goal-tending, the Kings’ problem all season.

He had told Coach Andy Murray a week earlier in Dallas that he wanted the No. 1 job. He has it . . . for now.

It will help if the penalty killers continue to perform as they did Saturday night. In all, Calgary had 14:49 in man-advantage time, and besides the short-handed goal by Belanger, the Kings got a power-play goal from Blake, who made like a winger in the process; and an out-of-the-box goal from Blake, who reverted to type.

Bryan Smolinski spotted Blake skating alone on the right wing and sent him the puck across the ice. The pass was a simple one, and everybody in the building knew what Blake was going to do.

Blast it, right?

Well, that’s what Vernon figured and he went out to challenge the play. Instead, Blake pulled the shot back and sailed past the goalie, backhanding the puck into the net for a 2-0 King lead at 8:32 of the second period.

“I think the puck rolled off my stick,” said Blake, laughing. “It was a great pass by Smolinski.”

The goal probably set up another almost eight minutes later when Blake had just escaped the penalty box. Glen Murray spotted him skating alone and sent Blake the puck. By now, Vernon didn’t know which way Blake was going and was standing almost straight up, offering only a half-hearted kick when Blake blasted a puck into the net for his 14th goal, tops among NHL defensemen.

“I just went back to my old ways and shot it,” he said.

The victory broke a three-game losing streak, but more important for Storr was cessation of a four-game drought that saw him lose his job, only to regain it when Passmore went into a drought of his own.

“We like all of the things he did tonight,” Murray said.