Kings Shut Out Flyers, 4-0

After three seasons of angst and agony, this was something different, something new for Roman Cechmanek.

Satisfaction.

The new King goaltender blanked the team that gave up on him five months ago, stopping 22 shots and guiding the Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers before an energized crowd of 16,771 Tuesday at Staples Center.

Cechmanek didn’t face a lot of shots, particularly as the Flyers slumbered through the second period, but his performance was more than good enough to become the star of the game, getting the nod ahead of defenseman Martin Strbak, who scored two goals in his third NHL game.

Cechmanek was practically booed out of Philadelphia after giving up nine goals in the Flyers’ final two playoff games, falling into the welcoming arms of the Kings, who had tired of Jamie Storr and Felix Potvin.

He was dropped off at the Kings’ doorstep for the relatively cheap price of a second-round selection in next year’s draft.

“It was an emotion game,” Cechmanek said. “I was so excited before the game. It’s great to beat the Flyers because I was traded, but I think our team played great.”

Cechmanek went 92-43-22 in three seasons with the Flyers and had a 1.96 goals-against average, the lowest since 1943-44 among goalies with at least 150 games. But he struggled in the playoffs, going 9-14 and failing to get the Flyers past the second round.

His unorthodox style -- flailing, diving and sometimes foundering -- was too much for the Flyers to bear, but he was sturdy against his former team.

“You could tell he was really focused on this game,” Philadelphia forward Jeremy Roenick said. “I’m sure he had a lot of incentive.”

Strbak, unlike Cechmanek, took a more circuitous route to get here.

Born in what is now Slovakia, Strbak was selected by the Kings in the ninth round of the 1993 draft, but he remained in Europe and spent the last five seasons playing professionally in Finland, Russia and Slovakia.

Strbak, 28, didn’t do much in his first two games with the Kings other than commit a hooking penalty against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Back in the lineup after sitting out the last two games, Strbak started the scoring on a slap shot from the point two seconds after a Philadelphia penalty expired.

Strbak’s shot deflected off the leg of Flyer center Keith Primeau and got past goaltender Jeff Hackett at 5:24 of the second period.

With the Kings ahead, 2-0, Strbak scored on another deflection, this time off the stick of Philadelphia forward Sami Kapanen 4:15 into the third period.

“Tonight I was given a chance,” Strbak said.

“It’s been a long, long time since I was drafted but I’m happy to be here.”

Even Jaroslav Modry got into the act, a day after being singled out by Coach Andy Murray for not being enough of a physical presence.

With the Kings on the power play and ahead, 1-0, Modry skated down from the left point and unleashed a difficult-angle shot from below the circle that flew over Hackett’s shoulder at 18:14 of the second period.

Alexander Frolov, playing on the Kings’ fourth line, delivered his second goal in three games to end the scoring at 16:21 of the third period.

More good news came with the end of a Kings’ shot drought that dated back to last Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins.

The drought ended 3:39 into the first period on Luc Robitaille’s shot from inside the blueline, ending a 35:21 span in which the Kings went without a shot.

Robitaille had the Kings’ final shot against Boston at 8:18 of the second period.

It was Philadelphia that demonstrated near futility Tuesday, going almost the entire second period without a shot before getting two in the final 41 seconds on a power play.

The Flyers have been held without a shot in a period only one time in their 37 seasons.

“When you play the Flyers and beat them, you have to look at your team as having done a lot of things very well,” Murray said.

“We’ll enjoy this for half an hour and then move on.”