Kings Keep It Simple in Win

Don’t throw dirt on the Kings just yet.

Doing nothing fancy, just playing sound hockey, the Kings did enough things right to defeat Phoenix, 4-3, Wednesday night at Staples Center.

Steve Heinze, Alexander Frolov, Mathieu Schneider and Erik Rasmussen did their part by scoring goals. Bryan Smolinski and Derek Armstrong performed theirs with key assists and solid checking. And, goaltender Jamie Storr executed his with 31 saves to give the Kings their first two-game winning streak in six weeks.

“We got it done and that’s all that counts,” defenseman Jaroslav Modry said. “We played well as a team. Everybody contributed and everyone chipped in with something.

“We obviously can’t win games [individually]. We have to do it all together, with 20 guys playing as one unit.”

With the victory, the Kings -- who blanked Ottawa in their last game before the All-Star break -- won consecutive games for the first time since they defeated St. Louis and the Mighty Ducks on Dec. 17 and 19. The win also improved the Kings’ point total to 50, seven behind the Mighty Ducks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

It was an important start of the Kings’ final push for the playoffs. They played once again with a long list of injured players that that includes forwards Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh, Ian Laperriere and goalie Felix Potvin.

“We’re very businesslike ... and that’s very good,” Coach Andy Murray said Wednesday morning. “With all the issues around our team, we’ve just reminded the team that each individual player has his own individual business. And how they help their business is playing well for our team. Then individual players will be rewarded. If you don’t play hard for our team, then your business is going to suffer.”

The Kings played as if they understood the message Wednesday night in front of 16,649.

Although they started the game with shaky defense, the Kings ended up striking first on Heinze’s goal.

Playing on a line with Ziggy Palffy and Derek Armstrong, Heinze hustled to knock in a rebound past Phoenix goalie Zac Bierk at 4:55. Palffy set up the play with a nice pass to defenseman Aaron Miller, whose blocked shot ended up on Heinze’s stick to give the Kings a 1-0 lead.

After the Coyotes’ Ramzi Abid scored on a power play at 12:29, the Kings responded with a nifty goal from Frolov, who jumped on a rebound to score at 15:07 to give Los Angeles a 2-1 going into the first intermission.

The Kings stretched their advantage to two goals just past the midway point of the second when Schneider, who played a strong game on both ends of the ice, scored a power-play goal.

Daniel Briere brought the Coyotes to within one goal when his shot from the left deflected off King defenseman Aaron Miller and off Storr’s glove and into the net with 1:10 remaining in the second.

Rasmussen scored to give the Kings a 4-2 lead at 16:20, which ended up being the winning goal when Daymond Langkow scored with 35 seconds remaining for Phoenix, which had pulled Bierk.

“In order for us to win, we have to play well defensively and to help Jamie in goal,” Modry said. “We have to let him see the puck. We just have to keep playing solid.”