King Victory Has Its Pain Too

If it wasn’t already, the secret’s now out.

In front of a national TV audience in Canada, the Kings scored twice in the last 1:10 and snared a 4-3 victory Saturday from the Edmonton Oilers, the latest advance in a season that keeps getting stronger, if not stranger.

It has been that way for the Kings, who moved into seventh place in the Western Conference, the highest they’ve been in a month, but had their progress somewhat overshadowed by a more central theme of their season, another injury.

Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was sent headfirst into the boards and taken off the ice on a stretcher in the second period in front of a crowd of 16,839 at Rexall Place.

Visnovsky had just finished passing the puck when he was checked by Ethan Moreau and went crashing into the boards near the King blue line 4:05 into the period. Visnovsky complained of head, neck and shoulder pain, but he could move his arms and legs and was alert enough to answer questions as he was whisked away to a local hospital for further evaluation.

The extent of Visnovsky’s injuries will not be known until today, although X-rays were negative and he traveled with the team to Calgary.

“It’s never fun to see a guy leaving on a stretcher,” center Eric Belanger said. “We’ll find a way to get the job done, but I hope he’s coming back soon.”

The Kings continued, as they have throughout the season, and rallied in the last minutes.

Derek Armstrong scored the tying goal after defenseman Joe Corvo’s slapshot deflected off his backside at 18:50.

Then, with 5.5 seconds left, defenseman Jason Holland poked in a rebound of Jozef Stumpel’s shot for the victory. The play started when Luc Robitaille carried the puck into the zone in a 3-on-2 and finished with the fourth NHL goal for Holland, who grew up 25 miles north of Edmonton, in Morinville.

“No better time for that, when the score’s tied,” said Holland, who played in front of dozens of friends and family. “They’re not all like that, though.”

Since ending the third-longest winless streak in team history at 14 games, the Kings are 6-1-1 and firmly entrenched in a five-team scrum for the last four playoff spots in the Western Conference. With Saturday’s victory, the Kings leaped over the St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames.

“That’s just the way it goes for our team,” Coach Andy Murray said. “We hung in there. No question about it.”

No player on the King defense moves the puck out of the zone faster than Visnovsky, who was among the leading scorers for defensemen until he sat out six games in December because of a concussion. He suffered a strained neck less than two weeks ago but did not sit out any games.

Earlier Saturday, Murray said Visnovsky was an oversight for the All-Star game. Visnovsky, listed at 5 feet 10 and 188 pounds, has 25 points and a team-high plus-14 rating.

“I know what Rob [Blake] is doing in Colorado and Matty [Norstrom] is the same [sturdy] player he has been every year, [but] I don’t know if there is a defenseman in the league who is doing more for his team than Lubomir Visnovsky does for us,” Murray said. “He’s playing 31, 32 minutes a night, he’s about 5-foot-2 and he takes on the big guys. He loves to play.”

The Kings jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Brad Chartrand and Trent Klatt that briefly quieted the crowd.

The Oilers steadily came back and ultimately took a 3-2 lead at 4:56 of the third period. After Georges Laraque tied the score 1:37 earlier, Shawn Horcoff bought some time behind the King net and found Fernando Pisani uncovered at the right dot for a snap shot.

The final score could have just as easily tilted in Edmonton’s direction: The Oilers hit the post once in each period and held the edge in shots, 36-17, the worst differential this season for the Kings.

“We’ve got to get out of here before people realize we stole two points tonight,” Murray said.

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Sean Avery sat out his third game because of a leg injury suffered in a collision last Monday with Jason Marshall of the Minnesota Wild. “He’s about 85% and to me that’s not enough,” Murray said. Avery could play Tuesday against the Calgary Flames, Murray said.... The team has a rare two-day gap between games on the road and will fill time today by going curling in Calgary and attending the Mighty Ducks-Flames game.