Garon Puts Stop to Kings’ Skid

Defenseman Aaron Miller heard the horn, hugged goaltender Mathieu Garon, thinking one thing and saying another.

His thought: “Thank God.”

His words: “Great game.”

At that point Garon was the next-best thing to divine intervention for the Kings, who ended their four-game losing streak Tuesday and stopped, at least for the moment, a tumble that dropped them to sixth place in the Western Conference.

The 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre did more than make for a comfortable flight home. The victory cleansed the palate of a trip that was otherwise distasteful.

Garon was the linchpin, stopping 36 of 37 shots, including two point-blank saves on Mats Sundin in the final two minutes. That allowed Dustin Brown’s two goals to stand up.

“It’s like when have a good steak, that’s the best steak you have ever had,” Kings’ Coach Andy Murray said. “But I can’t remember when I have had a victory that was more gratifying than this.”

The last week only whet the Kings’ appetite for it. The four-game trip had been a tour of one bad situation after another.

In Chicago, after a 3-2 loss, a de-icing vehicle damaged the Kings’ plane before the team got to the airport, delaying their arrival in Ottawa until 4:30 a.m.

In Ottawa, the Kings were beaten and took a beating in a 5-1 loss to the Senators, who spent the final minutes sending a physical message -- 95 penalty minutes in the third period.

In Montreal, they lost, 3-2, and had listened to righteous indignation from the crowd, angry at Sean Avery for his comments in September about French Canadian players.

“You know, 90% of the time it’s your goaltender who gets you out of something like this,” Jeremy Roenick said. “He gives you a game that you can win and Mathieu did that tonight.”

Garon endured a lot to get that victory.

The Kings were careless in their play, giving nine power plays to a team that had the second-best power-play average in the NHL.

But only once did the Maples Leafs cash in, and that came during a 5-minute 25-second stretch where the Kings did nothing but try to kill penalties.

Eric Belanger took a double minor for high sticking. The Kings were in the process of killing that when Craig Conroy broke his stick, leaving them only three armed defenders. Conroy finally cleared the puck with his hands, but was called for closing a hand on the puck, giving the Maple Leafs a two-man advantage.

Darcy Tucker then banged in a one-timer to cut a 2-0 Kings’ lead in half 8:33 into the second period and the Kings teetered. Garon, though, propped them up.

The Maple Leafs had 10 shots during the five-plus minutes of power plays. Garon stopped all but one. He ended the period with a brilliant toe save on Alexei Ponikarovsky.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s pee-wee hockey or the NHL, when your goaltender plays like that, you have a chance to win,” Murray said.

Brown made sure Garon’s play wasn’t wasted. He banged in his rebound 3:36 into the first period to give the Kings the lead. He then was positioned perfectly to knock in another rebound 4:06 into the second period for a 2-0 lead.

It was Brown’s first multiple-goal game in the NHL and his first goal since Oct. 28 against San Jose, a span of 17 games. He hadn’t even had a point in the last 11 games.

“Those were dirty goals that he worked to get,” Roenick said. “He started thinking about how he had to play and got rewarded for it.

“He remembered why he was a good player and, hopefully, he’ll keep thinking about that.”