Kings Turn On Power and Douse Flames

Their offense is clicking, their special teams humming.

Jamie Storr has provided steady and sometimes spectacular goaltending since taking over for the injured Felix Potvin.

The schedule has turned favorable in recent weeks and Thursday night at Staples Center even the referees seemed to be on the Kings’ side, awarding them 12 power-play opportunities in a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Only one thing is missing: Despite winning five of their last six games, the Kings have gained little ground in the Western Conference playoff race, moving only one point closer to eighth place.

Their improbable resurgence in the face of a laundry list of injuries to key players has coincided with hot streaks by other playoff-hungry teams in the West, among them the Ducks, dulling the impact of the Kings’ recent success.

Tenth in the West with a 24-25-4-4 record, they’re still seven points out of a playoff spot. They were eight out on the morning of Jan. 30, before starting their turnaround that night with a 3-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

“We can’t worry about that,” said Ziggy Palffy, whose goal and two assists, all in the second period, gave him 600 points in 582 NHL games. “It’s on your mind, but we have to go game by game. We’ve got a lot of games left.... It’s really easy to give up. But it’s not a time where we can just sit back. We have to win these games.”

Earlier, espousing a theme he has repeated often, Coach Andy Murray said the Kings should not concern themselves with the teams ahead of them.

“We’ve just got to focus on what our team is doing,” he said before the game. “It doesn’t matter if Anaheim wins or not, or if Chicago wins. As long as we win and we get over 90 points, we’ll be in.”

Of course, his players can’t help but notice the standings.

“In the morning, I look at the scores,” forward Ian Laperriere said, “but I don’t sit home at night and watch those games. I hope a couple of teams out there are going to help us down the line, but if we don’t win our games it won’t matter.”

The Kings were winless in their previous five games against the Flames, among them a 2-1 overtime loss last month at Calgary, and had lost three in a row to the Flames at Staples Center, last beating them in Los Angeles on Jan. 6, 2001.

But they came out firing, outshooting the Flames, 27-13. They put seven shots on net in the first 4 minutes 52 seconds before Scott Nichol of the Flames was called for hooking, the first of 12 penalties against the Flames in the first two periods.

Steve Heinze scored the first of the Kings’ four power-play goals at 6:28, shooting the puck past goaltender Roman Turek from just outside the crease.

As the period continued, the Flames kept putting the Kings on the power play and the Kings kept coming up empty. They held the man advantage for the fourth time when Palffy, knocked off stride by Craig Conroy, coughed up the puck in the King zone and Flame scoring leader Jarome Iginla pounced on it. Iginla slid a shot under Storr for the first of his two goals, pulling the Flames even at 13:37.

In the second period, the Kings scored three more power-play goals: Palffy on a rebound from high in the slot at 11:32, Derek Armstrong on a shot from the left faceoff circle at 13:42 and Joe Corvo on a slap shot from the high slot at 18:24.