Kings Put Chill Into Lemieux

Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux did not disappoint with two assists in his Staples Center debut Saturday night, but the hero of the game was defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who scored in overtime to give the Kings a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of a sellout crowd of 18,184.

“Ziggy [Palffy] made a great play of picking off a pass coming out of their end and then showed tremendous patience hanging onto the puck,” said Schneider. “I was wide open when two guys went to him. I knocked the puck down with my glove and then just shot it as hard as I could.”

The Kings also needed 15 saves from goaltender Felix Potvin, a power-play goal from Palffy and Craig Johnson’s first goal of the season to extend their winning streak to three games.

With Lemieux making his first appearance in Southern California since December 1996, the Kings knew they had a major challenge in slowing down the high-powered Penguins.

“You just have to pay attention to the little things against Mario,” King defenseman Jaroslav Modry said. “Playing against a legend like that always makes for a big game. He’s a great hockey player and a nice gentleman to play against.”

Anytime Lemieux is on the ice, all eyes are on him. Even when he’s not scoring goals, his presence makes it easier for his teammates to get the puck into the net.

That’s been the case all season for Lemieux’s linemate, Alexei Kovalev, who scored the first goal of the game. It was his 17th of the season.

Although the teams were at even strength, the Penguins looked as if they were on a power play midway into the first period because of how much room they had to work with in the Kings’ zone.

With two defenders keeping a close eye on Lemieux, Kovalev found himself alone behind the Kings’ goal with defenseman Mattias Norstrom watching him from the other side of the net. After a couple fakes, Kovalev skated around the left post and, before Norstrom could reach him, bounced the puck off Potvin and into the net at 9:24 of the first period.

The Kings were able to tie the score, 1-1, with a power-play goal from Palffy at 11:22 of the second period.

“We know that special teams were a big part of our success last year,” King Coach Andy Murray said recently. “We’re working at it. We need people who have been put in those positions to execute for us.”

And that’s exactly what happened on the Kings’ first goal.

With Pittsburgh winger Ville Nieminen in the penalty box for tripping, the Kings had the Penguins on the run with great passing from their top line of Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh and Palffy, but it was Lemieux who ended up scoring the goal for the Kings.

Schneider got the play started when he kept the puck in the Penguins’ zone, and then after Palffy completed a give-and-go pass to Allison, he made a centering pass for Deadmarsh that was knocked into the net by Lemieux.

With the capacity crowd back into the game, the Kings gave the momentum back to the Penguins when winger Mikko Eloranta was called for goaltender interference on Johan Hedberg at 12:10.

That’s a big mistake against the Penguins, who began Saturday’s game with the NHL’s best power-play success rate at 30.2%.

Pittsburgh needed only 26 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Lemieux, who leads the league in scoring, picked up his second assist of the game when his shot from the top of the left circle was blocked by Potvin.

Pittsburgh forward Jan Hrdina pounced on the rebound and scored at 12:36.