Kings Have Nothing to Complain About

No beer, soda, candy or debris of any kind rained down onto the ice from unruly fans this time. King Coach Andy Murray was not ejected.

The Kings, angry and frustrated the last time they left home ice after playing the Colorado Avalanche, had no complaints Thursday night after rolling to a 3-1 victory over the Stanley Cup champions in front of 18,231 at Staples Center.

Neither did their fans, who sent them off with a standing ovation.

The Kings’ fifth consecutive victory, coupled with the San Jose Sharks’ 4-1 dousing of the Calgary Flames, set up a showdown in the Pacific Division between the Kings and the first-place Sharks on Saturday at Staples Center.

Despite an 8-14-4-2 start, the Kings are eight points ahead of where they were at this point last season, when they rode a late-season surge into the playoffs, and only two points behind the division-leading Sharks.

They’re tied for fourth in the West with the Chicago Blackhawks.

And after improving to 8-2-1-1 since the Olympic break, the Kings felt a lot better than they did Jan. 26. That’s when a series of questionable calls in a 4-2 loss to the Avalanche unleashed the fans’ misguided fury and led to Murray’s ouster.

“Any time you beat a great team like that, it’s a great confidence-booster,” said Jason Allison, who scored his 17th goal. “We’ve played them I think four times since I’ve been here and we’ve played great against them and the [other] better teams. It makes you feel good and confident going into the playoffs.”

Philippe Boucher and rookie Jaroslav Bednar also scored goals for the Kings and goaltender Felix Potvin stopped 26 shots, losing a shutout when Radim Vrbata scored a power-play goal for the Avalanche with 49 seconds to play.

Vrbata’s goal enabled the Avalanche to avoid its third shutout loss in six games. The defending champions, who have scored only 11 goals in six games, played the last half of the game without high-scoring defenseman Rob Blake after the former King all-star was struck across the face by an errant puck. Blake was taken to a local hospital for precautionary X-rays of the bone above his right eye.

The Kings’ 27-8-5-2 surge since Dec. 8 has carried them to within five points of the second-place Avalanche in the Western Conference playoff race.

After pushing the Avalanche to the brink of elimination in a bitterly contested seven-game Western Conference semifinal playoff series last spring, the Kings won two of four tightly contested games against the Avalanche this season.

“Obviously, there’s a leftover rivalry from last year’s playoffs,” said Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley after his team lost for only the second time in its last 11 road games. “It was a good, physical game, like every other game with the Kings.”

The Kings always seem to be at their best against the Avalanche.

“It’s the fear of getting embarrassed,” Murray said before the game of his team’s recent success against the Avalanche, including a 10-3-1 record in Los Angeles since the end of the 1995-96 season.

In this one, the Kings never trailed. They took the lead for good shortly after the crowd observed a moment of silence for Brittanie Cecil, a 13-year-old girl who died Monday after being struck in the head by a deflected shot that caromed into the stands at an NHL game Saturday at Columbus, Ohio.

Only 2 minutes 38 seconds into the game, Avalanche center Joe Sakic put the Kings on the power play when he was called for hooking Jaroslav Modry.

The Kings needed only 32 seconds to take advantage, a shot from the right point by Mathieu Schneider deflecting off Boucher’s left skate and sailing past Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy at 3:10 of the first period.

Roy could not be faulted for that goal, but he seemed to misread a shot from just beyond the blue line by Bednar midway through the second period. The 60-foot shot beat Roy to the near side, giving Bednar his second goal in three games.

Less than a minute later, with Avalanche center Steve Moore in the penalty box, the Kings increased their lead to 3-0. Allison pounced on a rebound of a shot from the left point by Modry and lifted a backhanded shot over Roy for a power-play goal with 7:43 to play in the period.