Frolov Wraps Up a Victory

One by one, they stood up from their seats on the Kings’ bench, acknowledging the crowd as the public address announcer called out their names.

Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller and Mattias Norstom wore neatly pressed suits instead of shoulder pads and helmets, disappearing into the locker room minutes before Wednesday’s home opener against the Ottawa Senators, done for the night after being introduced with the rest of the team.

Funny thing, though. They weren’t needed.

The Kings took on one of the top teams in the NHL and came out with a victory, defeating the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,180 at Staples Center.

Ottawa was supposed to be the team that was the picture of youth, speed, experience and, unlike the Kings, health.

But the Kings, with four prominent players sidelined because of various injuries, showed a burst on offense and a backbone on defense, outshooting the Senators, 27-16, and coming back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the team that, in some circles, is favored to win the Stanley Cup.

At the very least, the Senators were expected to be a good early-season test for the short-staffed Kings, who managed to go 2-1 on their season-opening trip with victories against weaker Pittsburgh and Chicago teams.

In the end, it was forgotten forward Alexander Frolov, demoted from the Kings’ top line to their fourth line, who scored the winning goal 12:48 into the third period.

Frolov took off from the King blue line, created a late give-and-go with Eric Belanger, and stuffed in a wraparound shot after getting the puck back to break a 3-3 tie.

It was a sharp turnaround from the time the Senators took a 3-1 lead by scoring three times in their first 10 shots against King goaltender Roman Cechmanek.

Daniel Alfredsson had two goals, the Kings looked sloppy with unnecessary penalties, and it appeared the only highlight would be Luc Robitaille’s first goal since rejoining the Kings for a third time.

“Ottawa’s maybe the best-changing team in the league in terms of rolling their units and keeping people fresh,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “They’re very disciplined in how they go about it.”

But Derek Armstrong knocked in Ziggy Palffy’s backhanded attempt at 18:23 of the second period, trimming the lead to 3-2, and giving the Kings a chance.

The Kings tied the score at 7:02 of the third period. Lubomir Visnovsky shot wide on the power play, but Jozef Stumpel corralled the puck at the left side of the net, used his body to box out Zdeno Chara and spun around with a wrist shot that beat Martin Prusek to the short side.

Then came Frolov’s goal.

Last year, Frolov was sixth among NHL rookies with 31 points, but he had sputtered in the first two games, earning a trip to the fourth line before Sunday’s game against Chicago.

He started Wednesday’s game on the fourth line as well. Earlier in the day, Frolov denied he was disappointed.

“It doesn’t matter which line I play on,” he said. “It’s up to coach, who’s who. I just try to do what I can do.”

What he did was score the winner against Ottawa.

It didn’t look like the Kings would be in position to win after managing a meager four shots in the first period.

But Robitaille tied the score at 1-1 on a power play 1:04 into the second period. Palffy skated from behind the net to the right side and zipped a pass to Robitaille at the left side of the crease for a one-timer.

It was Robitaille’s first goal for the Kings since April 2, 2001. Robitaille now has 632 goals, increasing his NHL record for career goals by a left wing.

Alfredsson gave the Senators a 2-1 lead 13:52 into the second period, slapping a shot past Cechmanek from the top of the left circle on the power play. Cechmanek, screened on the play by the 6-foot-9 Chara, did not react fast enough as the puck traveled past him on the glove side.

At 15:20, Chara was parked in front of the net and slapped a perfect pass from Radek Bonk to give the Senators a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal.