Roenick and Garon Deliver

A shutout by Mathieu Garon. A big goal by Jeremy Roenick.

The winning formula in the Kings’ 1-0 victory over the Dallas Stars at Staples Center on Saturday was just what they hoped they’d get all season. They didn’t foresee that they’d need that combination merely to keep their flickering playoff hopes alive.

Roenick’s goal at 10:21 of the first period, set up on a nifty pass from Sean Avery, was all the Kings needed to back a 27-save effort that gave Garon his third shutout and 30th victory this season. In winning, the Kings moved within three points of the eighth-place Edmonton Oilers, with seven games left on each team’s schedule. The San Jose Sharks, who lost to the Phoenix Coyotes in overtime, are tied with the Kings at 83 points but have played two fewer games.

“We just have to win games,” Roenick said after scoring his ninth goal in an injury-marred and generally forgettable season. “It’s the kiss of death when we rely on somebody else. We put ourselves in this situation so we have to rely on ourselves to get out of it. It doesn’t matter if the other teams lose, if we don’t win.”

It was a fine effort by the Kings, even taking into account that Dallas, which had clinched a playoff spot and was four points from clinching the Pacific Division title, held forward Mike Modano and defenseman Sergei Zubov out of the lineup to heal minor injuries.

Roenick, allowed to miss the morning skate to rest the ankle he injured last Saturday, responded well. In addition to his first-period goal, on which he beat Dallas goalie Johan Hedberg to the stick side, he hit the post in the second period.

“It was a grindy, gritty game, the way we have to play the rest of the season,” Roenick said.

John Torchetti, the Kings’ interim coach, called it “playoff hockey.” And it might be as close as the Kings come to the playoffs unless they maintain the fire that fueled them on Saturday.

“We’re in this. We just got to keep competing,” Torchetti said after the Kings ended a three-game losing streak and improved his record to 2-3 since he replaced Andy Murray.

“That’s the bottom line for this hockey team. It has to keep going with its confidence and keep competing.”

Garon, who had a respite Wednesday in Calgary when Jason LaBarbera started against the Flames, said he felt invigorated. The shutout was the seventh of his career.

“It’s two points. That’s all I want every time I come to the rink,” said Garon, who faced few flurries and left few rebounds. “I want two points and that’s what we needed tonight. I don’t really care about the shutout.

“Sometimes these are the games you need to win, by one goal like that, and put your team back on the map.”

The Kings are still a long shot and are still piecing together their lineup. Eric Belanger was a late scratch after he developed concussion-like symptoms, apparently the result of a hit in Calgary, but the Kings made do without him.

“It’s a big win for us, but we still have seven games and it’s going to be a battle every game,” Garon said. “We don’t want to look at the whole picture -- we want to take it one game at a time and if we keep on playing this way, it’s going to be a lot easier for us.”

Said Torchetti: “We still have to become a better team every day, as we go along. I know we have a short time, but we still have to strengthen as a team.”