Kings Discover Power Source in 4-3 Victory

Plenty of questions hung in the air on Monday night at Staples Center and, by and large, the Kings answered the most pressing ones, not even needing 60 minutes to knock them back in a hang-on-for-dear-life 4-3 victory against the San Jose Sharks.

When would the misery of the power-play drought come a merciful halt?

The Kings, having gone 0 for 12 on the power play in a 5-3 loss at Edmonton on Friday night, watched the total hit 13 when they failed to score on their opening opportunity against the Sharks, drawing some boos.

No worries.

Michael Cammalleri’s deflection ended that drought late in the first period, at 18:35, and the Kings added two more power-play goals for good measure: Joe Corvo’s in the second and Craig Conroy’s in the third. In all, the Kings went three-for-nine on the power play. The lone even-strength King goal came from Sean Avery at 4:27 of the third.

The Kings scrambled and clung to the lead when the Sharks’ Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice in the third period, cutting a three-goal lead to one. It was the first time the Kings have defeated the Sharks in eight games

Their power-play woes are widely known.

“We know. I think a lot of it is that we’ve been pressing, trying to do something on the power play,” Conroy said. “It’s no secret. Tonight to get three for us is huge.

“It’s a big difference. Just to give us some confidence. That’s what you need. When you look at other power plays, they’re not doing anything special but they’re finding ways to score goals. And that’s what we haven’t been able to do. Maybe we can get on a little hot streak and it makes a difference in a lot of games.”

And what about King veteran Luc Robitaille’s journey back from exile?

Robitaille’s last appearance in the scoring summary came when he had a goal against Chicago on Nov. 26. Since then, he had no points in nine games and did not dress in four others, including three games in a row earlier this month, putting him at odds with King Coach Andy Murray.

He returned to the lineup in last week’s road trip and watched his playing time steadily increase. Robitaille played 12:58 against the Sharks and quickly found his way back when he had the second assist on Cammalleri’s goal, sending a cross-ice pass from the right-wing boards to defenseman Mattias Norstrom, who was up the middle, just inside the blue line.

“It was a good play on the wall by Luc to get it back to Matty,” Cammalleri said. “We wanted to get it back and get a point shot. Matty Norstrom just got his head up, he kind of looked at me right in the eye, like, ‘Here it comes. Tip it or something.’ I was just able to get a stick on it.”

So, how about the Joe Thornton Effect on the Sharks?

On this night, negligible until the third period, particularly in the latter stages. But a late surge by Thornton and the Sharks nearly erased the Kings’ lead.

Thornton, who came to San Jose in a four-player trade with Boston on Nov. 30, had no points in his last two games after a sensational start with the Sharks and was held off the score sheet against the Kings until 11:40 of the third period when he assisted on Cheechoo’s second goal of the night.

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After the game, Murray said that injured defenseman Aaron Miller would be seeing noted back specialist Robert Watkins today. Miller has missed the final game of the Kings’ trip in Edmonton, did not play against the Sharks and has not been skating.

Because of his undetermined absence and to help shore up the power play, the Kings recalled defenseman Denis Grebeshkov from their minor league team in Manchester.

Grebeshkov arrived in Los Angeles on Monday but did not play against the Sharks. He leads all Monarch defensemen with 16 points, all of them assists.