Smyth Impresses Amid Brawls

At the start of training camp, King right wing Brad Smyth was considered a player on the bubble to make the team. He shouldn’t anymore.

Smyth capped off an impressive September on Saturday with two goals and an assist to lead the Kings to a 5-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks before a crowd of 10,722 at the Forum.

Forward Dan Bylsma, left unprotected for today’s waiver draft, also had a solid game with a power-play goal and an assist as the Kings completed the exhibition season with a 6-1 record, their best since 1980 when they finished 5-0-1.

In defeating the Mighty Ducks for the second consecutive night to sweep the Freeway Series on Ice, the Kings also received goals from defenseman Doug Zmolek and center Jozef Stumpel in outshooting Anaheim, 34-16.

Former King Tomas Sandstrom was the lone bright spot for the Ducks, scoring two goals, including an unassisted score in the second period. The Ducks finished the exhibition season 2-4-1.

The fight-marred game had 51 total penalties for 280 minutes.

“I told my guys to be careful because when I looked at their lineup, I didn’t see too many hockey players,” King Coach Larry Robinson said.

Mikhail Shtalenkov started for the Ducks and gave up three goals before being replaced by Guy Hebert at 13:02 of the second period.

*

Tough guy Jeremy Stevenson suffered a concussion and is expected to be sidelined two weeks after King forward Roman Vopat ambushed him from behind with a forearm shot to the face.

“I’m sure it will be under review by the NHL, because it was a vicious sucker punch,” Duck Coach Pierre Page said. “It was as bad as what Tie Domi did to Ulf Samuelsson [a similar blindside punch last season that resulted in Domi’s suspension].

“Stevenson was knocked out. This guy [Vopat] has got to get it big time. You hate to see it, but you can’t have that in this game.”

General Manager Jack Ferreira is expected to send the tape of the first-period hit to the league for review.

*

Page did not dress his top line of Espen Knutsen, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selanne in an attempt to rest them before the team leaves Monday for season-opening games Friday and Saturday against Vancouver in Tokyo.

He lost his fourth line to game misconducts: Ted Drury (spearing), Mark Janssens (fighting) and Warren Rychel (fighting).

*

The Kings cut their active roster to 28 players when they sent right wing Pavel Rosa and center Eric Belanger to the Fredericton Canadiens of the American Hockey League.

*

King forward Matt Johnson has been suspended by the league indefinitely because of a slashing incident against San Jose’s Todd Ewen last Wednesday in Boise, Idaho. On Monday, the NHL will hold a hearing to decide how many games Johnson will be suspended for an incident in which he was assessed a major penalty for slashing and a game misconduct.