Kings Give Third Degree

The red-hot Kings, losers of only three of their previous 18 games, found themselves up against a rusty goaltender Thursday night.

It did them little good for two periods, but in the third period they broke loose for three goals against veteran Bob Essensa and defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2, in front of 16,698 at Staples Center.

Adam Deadmarsh scored the winner as the surging Kings won their third in a row, blowing past defenseman Richard Smehlik down the left side before backhanding a shot between Essensa’s legs with 1:16 to play.

Bryan Smolinski scored an insurance goal with 45 seconds left.

Essensa, who turned 37 on Monday, hadn’t started since Nov. 17, when he lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-1, at Boston. Signed to a one-year, $600,000 contract last summer, the veteran goalie has played only sparingly behind No. 1 goaltender Martin Biron, in large part because he hasn’t played well.

After helping to rally the Vancouver Canucks into the playoffs last season by going 18-12-3 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .892 save percentage, Essensa was 0-4 with a 3.28 GAA and an abysmal .841 save percentage for the Sabres.

Several of his teammates, however, expressed disappointment in Coach Lindy Ruff, saying that he hadn’t given Essensa much of a chance.

His start against the Kings was only his fourth of the season.

And he appeared to be on his way to his first victory until early in the third period, when a Sabre pass bounced crazily off a seam in the glass behind the Sabre net, setting up perfectly for Ziggy Palffy in the left faceoff circle.

Palffy whistled a shot into the upper right corner of the net, starting the rally that helped the Kings improve to 13-3-3 since Dec. 8.

The Kings started the day in eighth place in the Western Conference, having spent the last three months climbing out of the hole they’d put themselves in thanks to a rash of early season losses.

Their surge into a playoff slot--they got there Tuesday night, when they defeated the Nashville Predators, 2-0--had moved them within six points of the division-leading San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division, sparking talk that the Kings should readjust their sites and take aim at the division championship.

Murray would have none of it.

“I just coached a team that in December was six games below .500 and a long way from the playoffs,” the coach said before the game, “so let’s keep our feet on the ground and take it one game at a time. When that situation presents itself, then we’ll deal with it. But right now it’s not even a thought.”

The Sabres, meanwhile, were last in the Northeast Division but only three points out of a playoff spot in the East after winning four of their last five.

“I think what they’ve done is return to the type game that made them so effective over the past number of years,” Murray said of the Sabres’ recent surge. “They’re playing real tight-checking and not giving up a lot of space. They’re playing very determined defensively and they’ve had good goaltending.

“They’ve returned to being tough to play against, much the same as what our philosophy has been. They’re a hard-working, physical team.”

The Sabres had given up only seven goals in their previous five games and the Kings had shut out three of their previous six opponents, but the teams combined for two goals in the first six minutes, three in the first 10.

Dmitri Kalinin scored first, giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead only 4:19 into the game. After a pass from Miroslav Satan caromed off his right skate, the Russian defenseman caught up to the puck and poked it past goaltender Jamie Storr.

Less than 90 seconds later, Brad Chartrand pulled the Kings even. Chartrand, recalled from the minors after Eric Belanger suffered a sprained left wrist in Tuesday’s game, scored his third goal off a pass from Mikko Eloranta.

The Sabres regained the lead at 9:36 when Curtis Brown scored on a rebound. The initial shot by Taylor Pyatt was stopped by Storr, but as the puck squirted back into the slot toward Lubomir Visnovsky, the King defenseman fell down.

By the time the slow-reacting Visnovsky had regained his footing, Brown had circled the net, beaten him to the puck and punched it into the net.

Both teams clamped down in the second period, Essensa stopping a point-blank shot by Nelson Emerson on a breakaway midway through the period.

Later in the period, a hit by Pyatt leveled King defenseman Philippe Boucher, who suffered a concussion.