A Quiet Night for Kings

With all the talk about Scott Stevens’ record-setting jaunt through Southern California, it made sense that Tuesday would be a day for defense.

Unfortunately for the Kings, it wasn’t a day for theirs.

The Kings, minus injured Ziggy Palffy, lost to the New Jersey Devils with a lineup that struggled against the Devils’ league-leading defense and fell quietly, 4-0, before 17,067 mostly impatient fans at Staples Center.

The Devils scored two power-play goals and had no problem finding the net against backup goaltender Cristobal Huet, who didn’t have quite the success he had in a shutout of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

The Kings tried just about everything and even pulled Huet with almost six minutes left, but the extra attacker couldn’t generate any more offense than had been the norm. Patrik Elias rifled one into the empty net from the blue line with 3:43 left to give New Jersey its fourth goal.

“Boring New Jersey type of game,” King forward Ian Laperriere said. “I don’t think we played that bad. They just waited for the opportunities. They’re a very patient team, and that’s why they won the Stanley Cup.”

King Coach Andy Murray was angered about what he perceived to be two non-calls by the referees.

First, he was upset that center Eric Belanger was struck in the face by Scott Niedermayer’s stick at 6:30 of the second period after he and Niedermayer became entangled behind the New Jersey net while chasing the puck. Belanger left for the rest of the period because of a broken tooth and a deep cut above his lip.

Murray also pointed to the Devils’ third goal, where Niedermayer knocked in a rebound from Brian Rafalski’s shot at 19:16 as Elias knocked over Huet.

“To be very honest, there were some deciding factors,” Murray said. “In the middle of the second period, it’s a 2-0 game, Eric Belanger gets hit with a definite high stick by Niedermayer and the refs don’t make the call.

“Their third goal, our goaltender gets wiped out about two seconds before they even take the shot. Those are deciding factors in a hockey game.”

Meanwhile, Stevens tied Larry Murphy’s record for most games played by a defenseman -- a mark he will set tonight against the Mighty Ducks with his 1,616th game -- and the Devils improved their unbeaten streak to 10-0-2.

“It’s not a big deal,” New Jersey Coach Pat Burns said. “We just go game by game.”

The Devils, who have allowed an NHL-low 30 goals in 19 games, improved to 5-0-2 on the road and remained the league’s only unbeaten team away from home.

The Kings killed two first-period penalties but couldn’t kill a third after Michael Cammalleri was sent to the box for holding the stick at 17:35.

With the Devils set up on the power play, John Madden walked in from the point and ripped a shot at the top of the right circle that beat Huet to the stick side at 18:03.

The Devils took a 2-0 lead 22 seconds into the second period. Turner Stevenson took the puck up the right boards, maneuvered around Tim Gleason and found Sergei Brylin to the left of the crease for the tap-in.