King Victory Over Calgary Is a Real Kick in the Pants

CALGARY — King Coach Larry Robinson has been around the NHL long enough to know that sometimes a team just needs a kick in the rear to turn things around.

That’s what he hoped would happen when he put his team through a 90-minute, skating-only practice last Tuesday. Since then, the Kings have played inspired hockey and won their second consecutive game with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon before 15,873 at the Saddledome.

Goaltender Stephane Fiset was strong in the net again, with 36 saves, and Rob Blake, Jozef Stumpel, Glen Murray and Yanic Perreault each scored goals for the Kings, who at 14-14-6 moved back to .500.

“We needed to get the intensity back into our game, we lacked that for six games and we didn’t get a win,” said Blake, who scored a power-play goal for the second game in a row. “Larry knew how to get it back. Skating only in practice [makes] you learn pretty quickly that you have to get off to a good start.”

Practicing without a puck is nothing new for Robinson, who used the tactic earlier this season in Florida. The Kings responded by going 7-3 over their next 10 games. So far, they have outscored their last two opponents, 9-3, since his last “puckless” practice statement.

“You always have that in the back of your mind now because you don’t want to have [a skating-only practice] again,” right wing Sandy Moger said. “The key to this team is that we have to get off to a good start. Our record proves it.”

The Kings are 11-1 in games in which they score first, including Saturday’s against the Flames.

Blake scored his sixth goal at 5:01, and Stumpel and Murray each added a goal as the Kings took a 3-0 lead into the second period.

“You have to have the intensity right away, especially when you are on the road where the other team tends to come out harder,” said Blake, who had an assist on Murray’s score. “If you can get a jump on a team and put them on their heels, it kind of takes some of their confidence away.”

With a three-goal lead, the Kings lost some of their edge in the second period, but Fiset was sharp in shutting down the pressing Flames, who outshot the Kings, 11-6, in the period.

Fiset was at his best with solid saves on Jonas Hoglund and Jarome Iginla, which were important late in the period when defensemen Sean O’Donnell and Blake were caught on the ice for nearly four minutes after a successful kill of a Calgary power play.

“They really came after us and it was almost scary in the second period,” said Fiset, who improved to 13-12-4. “If one goal [was scored] they would have been back into the game.”

Calgary, which was zero for six in power-play opportunities, spoiled Fiset’s shutout bid in the third period when Cale Hulse scored a rebound goal at 8:13. But despite outshooting the Kings, 15-6, in the period, the Flames could not get closer.

Goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who replaced starter Rick Tabaracci after the Kings’ third goal, was pulled in the final minute of the game, and Perreault scored his team-high 17th goal into an empty net with 19.3 seconds remaining.

The Kings, who have games at Chicago and Colorado on Monday and Tuesday, were two of four in man-advantage situations and have four power-play goals in their last two games.

“We hit the net and that’s a big difference,” Robinson said about the team’s power-play, which had gone scoreless for six games before last Thursday. “Another thing is that we had guys going to the net and our passing was a lot more crisp. We moved the puck a lot better instead of standing and holding on to it.”

So does Robinson think the Kings’ recent success is a result of his “puckless” practice?

“There is no rhyme or reason with anything that happens,” he said. “When it works, it is the greatest idea in the world and when it doesn’t work, [people ask], ‘Why did you do it?’ ”