Jackets a Nice Fit for Kings

The big scorers scored, the defensemen defended, and the goaltender stopped shots when the game was still in the balance.

The Kings did all the right things Thursday in a 3-0 victory over the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets before an appreciative crowd of 15,582 at Staples Center. Now, they have to hope their efforts didn’t come too late to propel them into a playoff spot in the tightly bunched Western Conference.

Right wing Ziggy Palffy scored two goals, the first short-handed, to end a slump in which he had scored three times in 13 games, and goalie Felix Potvin made 27 saves to lift the Kings within a point of the eighth-place Phoenix Coyotes, who gained a point in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators. The Kings have 84 points after 77 games, while the Coyotes have 85 points after 78 games.

“This is do or die for us,” Potvin said. “Especially against a team like that. They’re the most dangerous. They have nothing to lose, and they’re playing for jobs. We were fortunate to get three goals early.”

The victory ended the Kings’ 0-1-2-1 winless streak and brought them within three points of the seventh-seeded Vancouver Canucks.

The Kings’ immediate concern, though, is earning a playoff spot, no matter where they might be seeded. And their performance in the opening game of their final homestand gave them reason for optimism.

Potvin’s shutout was his fourth in the 18 games he has played since the Kings acquired him Feb. 15 from Vancouver for future considerations. It was his fifth this season, matching the career-high he set with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997-98. His 27-save effort Thursday was the most work he had to do to earn a shutout with the Kings: he made 19 saves to blank Calgary on Feb. 22, 18 against San Jose on March 17 and 15 in his second shutout of the Sharks, a scoreless game Monday.

“If Felix did not make the big saves he did tonight, it’s 3-3,” Ian Laperriere said. “We got the two points. We’ll take every point we can get. We didn’t play like we wanted to play, but the results were all right.”

Potvin also survived a scary moment late in the game. With 3:01 left, he was hit on the side of the head by the left skate of Columbus center Serge Aubin, who was trying to tip home a shot from the point. Potvin got up slowly but finished the game.

“I was just kind of dizzy,” he said, “but I was fine after a minute or two.”

The Kings wasted little time in capitalizing on their biggest asset--their superior talent. Playing aggressively but intelligently, they scored twice in a span of 29 seconds in the first period to pull beyond the Blue Jackets’ limited reach.

Palffy scored his third short-handed goal of the season at 3:12, tying Bryan Smolinski for the team lead. Sprung for a breakaway, he shrugged off an attempt by Columbus defenseman Deron Quint to bump him off the puck and got away a shot. Goalie Marc Denis stopped it, but Palffy pounced on the rebound and tapped it past the goalie’s leg.

“We just battled,” Palffy said. “I tried to read the play. I got a good pass, and I didn’t see anyone in front of me, so I just skated.”

Later in the period, Smolinski was sent in alone on Denis thanks to a smart play in the neutral zone by Luc Robitaille. Although better known for his scoring than his passing, Robitaille showed smarts and finesse by drawing two defenders to him and slipping the puck to Smolinski, who had a clear path up the middle. Smolinski didn’t miss, beating Denis at 15:46 for his 27th goal.

Before fans had settled back into their seats, they had reason to jump up again, at 16:15. Palffy was in position by the right post when a shot by Jaroslav Modry from just inside the blue line took a strange carom and hopped nearly onto his stick, a perfect setup for his 34th goal of the season.

Palffy has feasted on the Blue Jackets this season. He scored five goals and collected nine points in the four-game series.

Palffy couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if the Kings had played this well several months ago. “Everybody thinks about it, but it’s past,” he said. “Two months ago we were in ninth place, seven, eight, nine points out. Now, we’re one point behind. It’s a lot different. It’s more fun to play for something, not for April 8 and go home.”

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SAN JOSE 7

DUCKS 4

Former Duck Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya get matching hat tricks in San Jose’s victory over Anaheim. D4