Hurricanes Are Wind Beneath Kings’ Wings

Opportunity knocked and the Kings answered.

Taking advantage of a soft spot on their schedule, they stretched their winning streak to three games Friday night, knocking the wind out of the struggling Carolina Hurricanes, 8-2, in front of 18,118 at Staples Center.

The sellout crowd was treated to a rare scoring outburst from the Kings, who established their season high by netting seven goals before the end of the second period against beleaguered goaltender Kevin Weekes.

Bryan Smolinski scored three goals and rookie Jared Aulin had two for the Kings, who hadn’t scored so many goals since Jan. 30, 2001, when they defeated the Dallas Stars, 8-0, at Staples Center.

Smolinski’s hat trick was the third of his career and first since Jan. 16, 2001. Aulin’s goals, in his 16th game, were the first of his career.

“It was exciting,” said Smolinski, who scored all his goals on the power play and has five goals in four games. “Pretty easy work for it, but it was a great win. I was happy enough to get three goals, but we got great play from everybody.”

The victory was their fourth in six games, moving the Kings into 10th place in the Western Conference, seven points behind the eighth-place Mighty Ducks.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have fallen on hard times in the last two months. Surprise Stanley Cup finalists last spring, they’ve won only one of 14 games since Jan. 7 and only two of 20 since Dec. 22, careening out of the playoff picture.

Not that the Kings were positioned to take anybody lightly, what with seven injured regulars still sidelined.

“We have no room to feel sorry for them,” Smolinski said.

The Hurricanes lost Wednesday night at San Jose, 6-2, and on Thursday their coach, Paul Maurice, skated a small group of players after practice until one collapsed. Scoring leader Jeff O’Neill, among the seven given extra work, reacted with strong words for the coach afterward, calling his methods a “joke.”

Against the Kings, the Hurricanes were short-handed after trading veteran right wing Sami Kapanen to the Philadelphia Flyers in a four-player deal that brought them rookie right wing Pavel Brendl, who won’t arrive until today.

“We’ve got to know that Carolina was not very happy with their last game,” King Coach Andy Murray said before the game. “You’ve got to expect that they’re going to respond here. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

They were ready, all right.

The unlikely trio of Aulin, bruiser Brad Norton and goaltender Jamie Storr gave them a 1-0 lead only 2 minutes 19 seconds into the game, Aulin scoring off a pass from Norton. The play was started by Storr, whose assist was the third of his career and first since Feb. 9, 2000.

Rookie defenseman Joe Corvo made the score 2-0 at 15:40. At 17:30, Smolinski scored a power-play goal on a rebound, making the score 3-0.

Aulin’s second goal was his first power-play goal. At 6:21 of the second period, he scored on a rebound, giving the Kings a 4-1 lead.

Ziggy Palffy, Brad Chartrand and Smolinski also scored before the end of the period, Smolinski again on the power play to make it 7-2 at 19:21.

Smolinski scored again in the third period, against Arturs Irbe.

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Eight Is Enough

The 8-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night was only the fifth time since the 1994-95 season that the Kings have scored at least that many goals in a game. In 1993-94, the team reached the mark four times.

*--* Season Opponent Result 2002-03 Carolina Won, 8-2 2000-01 Dallas Won, 8-0 1999-00 Edmonton Won, 8-2 1997-98 Vancouver Won, 8-2 1995-96 N.Y. Islanders Won, 9-2

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