Roenick Is No Two-Timer in Win

The burning question afterward was not “Who shot J.R.?” It was “Two shots or one?”

King center Jeremy Roenick was in the middle of the great shootout debate Saturday afternoon at Staples Center. His goal in the franchise-first shootout helped give the Kings a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators and unleashed a few moments of chaos.

Roenick, who had slipped and was falling, had the wherewithal to stuff the puck past Nashville goalie Tomas Vokoun. His goal brought the Kings off the bench en masse, and the Zamboni even edged onto the ice.

They thought it was all over ... but there was a question as to whether Roenick had taken one or two swipes at the puck as he went sliding into Vokoun. The Kings had to put their celebration on hold while the replay was viewed by officials.

“I said there has to be a God up there that’s going to be on my side one time,” Roenick said. “I didn’t make any second-effort shot. I didn’t hit it twice.

” ... I came down, I went to my backhand, right back to my forehand, I lost an edge and tried to stuff it in. As I stuffed it in, it hit his pad and the puck went in at the same time.”

The brief delay while officials watched the replay was especially torturous for King goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who had to prepare himself to face Paul Kariya if Roenick’s goal was disallowed.

As for LaBarbera’s thoughts?

“ ‘Come on. Let’s go.’ Just point to center ice,” he said, smiling. “That’s all I was hoping for. I was trying to refocus myself. It was an emotional roller coaster there because everyone was all excited. And next thing you’ve got to go back in there. If I made the next save, the game would have been over. Who knows what would have happened? I’m glad they counted it.”

Not only did LaBarbera stop Nashville’s Simon Gamache and Marek Zidlicky in the shootout, he turned away center David Legwand’s effort on a penalty shot with 31.9 seconds left in overtime.

Of Roenick’s goal, referee Dennis LaRue told a pool reporter afterward, “On a penalty shot situation, or overtime with a shootout, a player can only make one shot. The question was whether Jeremy had played it a second time, like a rebound. I didn’t see that on the ice and it was apparently confirmed on the replay upstairs.”

Vokoun had a different opinion. “Everybody I talked to said he hit it two times, so I don’t understand why it’s a goal,” he said.

Before Roenick’s attempt, King forward Pavol Demitra scored in the shootout.

King Coach Andy Murray had made a slight alteration to his shootout list.

“I moved J.R. up a slot; I thought he was going to score. I thought he got us going in the second period,” said Murray. “I thought J.R. had his best game of the year.”

Roenick helped jump-start the Kings -- who rallied from a 2-0 first-period deficit -- with a massive hit on Danny Markov in the second period. In the third period, the Kings outshot the Predators, 21-2, and tied the score with two goals. Craig Conroy scored his fifth of the season and Tom Kostopoulos scored his first as a King.

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King center Sean Avery was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting Gamache from behind in the first period. Murray said he did not think Avery would face additional discipline.