Kings Find Back of the Net

The Kings’ dip below .500 hockey was corrected almost as quickly as it happened, as thoroughly as a thrashing of the Phoenix Coyotes that included the club’s largest outburst in 37 games and salvaged the longest homestand of the season.

Ziggy Palffy had four points, Luc Robitaille had three, and the Kings won for the second time in six games with a 7-3 victory over Phoenix in front of a pleased crowd of 18,118 fans Saturday at Staples Center.

This time, the opposing goalie was chased from the game as the Kings straightened out a couple of recent problems by converting on a higher percentage of their shots and improving their penalty-kill production.

After two frustrating games in which the Kings outshot the opponent by a combined 84-39 but scored only three goals, the Kings made the most of their 25 shots Saturday.

It added up to the Kings’ best offensive output since an 8-2 victory Feb. 7 over the Carolina Hurricanes.

“With the way we played the last two games pounding the net, sooner or later you’re going to get your breaks,” Robitaille said. “It was a good game for our team.”

Defensively, Roman Cechmanek bounced back from a poor showing Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks with 22 saves. On the other side of the ice, Phoenix goalie Zac Bierk was yanked after the second period, giving up five goals in 18 shots.

The King penalty-killing units were also respectable, allowing one goal in six Phoenix opportunities, shedding their reputation as the league’s weakest penalty killers, at least for one night.

“Our big boys,” said Ian Laperriere, nodding in the direction of defensemen Mattias Norstrom and Aaron Miller. “That’s their bread and butter, on the penalty kill and defensively.”

Ziggy Palffy opened the scoring 1:50 into the game, snapping in a shot that was gloved by Bierk, but was ruled to have crossed the goal line in Bierk’s glove after being reviewed by off-ice referees.

Robitaille’s three points all came in the first period, including a goal at 9:19 that put the Kings ahead, 2-0.

Daymond Langkow sliced the lead in half, but Lubomir Visnovsky, who has hovered at or near the top of the league’s highest-scoring defensemen, scored on a power-play shot from the upper slot to give the Kings a 3-1 lead at 16:51.

Derek Armstrong and Jon Sim scored in the second period to give the Kings a 5-1 edge. Bierk was replaced by Sean Burke for the start of the third period, with similar results.

Phoenix made it interesting by closing to 5-3 in the third period, but Alexander Frolov scored short-handed at 9:34 to give the Kings a three-goal advantage. Frolov scored again with 28.1 seconds left.

“We needed to win desperately tonight and we put pressure on our team this morning to find a way and they did,” King Coach Andy Murray said.

Palffy had his third three-assist game of the season, tying his career-high.

“The guys jumped up and our goalie was good too,” Palffy said.

The Kings went 3-4 during their homestand, with solid victories against the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, and forgettable losses to the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins. Their next four games are on the road.

“It was a disappointing homestand,” Robitaille said. “We should have won at least two more games for sure. It’ll be a big road trip for us.”