Kings Pass This Physical

Two weeks ago, the Vancouver Canucks skated basically untouched in handing the Kings their worst loss in four years.

Monday night, the Kings got a little redemption thanks to a physical start that helped ignite their best offensive performance of the month in a 5-2 victory before 13,137 at the Forum.

Jozef Stumpel had a goal and two assists, and Craig Johnson and Luc Robitaille ended goal-scoring droughts as the Kings ended a two-game losing streak and avenged a 7-0 loss to the Canucks in Vancouver on Dec. 15.

Russ Courtnall played his best all-around game of the season and added a goal. Glen Murray scored his 11th and extended his consecutive scoring streak to seven games.

The Kings, who moved back to .500 at 16-16-6, also received a strong game from goaltender Stephane Fiset, who had been slowed with flu but bounced back from a 5-1 loss at Colorado last week with 34 saves to improve to 14-13-4.

“[In] Vancouver, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and it was the same thing against Phoenix [a 4-2 loss last Saturday],” Robitaille said. “We didn’t play our physical game. Tonight, we came out and we came out hard. I mean Jozef Stumpel threw that big hit early and when you have players like Stumpy throwing a big hit like that, it tells everybody to do it. It really got the team going and that’s what we have to do. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

After watching his top lines struggle for most of December, King Coach Larry Robinson moved Johnson, who had not scored since Nov. 11, to right wing and skated him with Stumpel and Robitaille, who had not scored since Nov. 29.

The move worked to perfection against the struggling Canucks, whose winless streak reached five.

Johnson, who had been used in more of a checking role since early November, helped provide speed to the Stumpel-Robitaille line and finished with a career-high three points.

“We talked about how we have to come out fast, the last couple of games we hadn’t done that,” Johnson said. “We came out hard tonight and made things happen.”

Johnson put the Kings ahead early as they scored first for only the 14th time in 38 games. Rob Blake helped keep play in the Vancouver zone and Stumpel ended up with the puck near the right circle. He passed to Mattias Norstrom, who found Johnson open in the slot to beat Vancouver goalie Arturs Irbe at 11:14. It was Johnson’s seventh goal of the season.

Vancouver came close to tying the score later in the period when Gino Odjick and Pavel Bure both had solid chances, only to be stoned by Fiset.

“He made big stops at the right time,” Robinson said. “He made some really big saves.”

With less than a minute remaining in the period, the Kings’ aggressive forechecking led to their second goal. Yanic Perreault and Blake were able to finish off their checks and Murray ended up with the puck in the slot to score with 30.6 seconds left.

The Kings took a 3-0 lead early in the second period when Courtnall, who played with Vancouver last season, picked off a cross-ice pass by Mark Messier and used his speed to score an unassisted goal at 2:30. It was Courtnall’s third goal in 17 games with the Kings.

Vancouver did not need much time to get the goal back. Bure picked up a King turnover to score on a breakaway to cut the lead to 3-1 at 2:58.

The Kings finally broke the game open late in the second period when Johnson’s shot from the left corner was deflected to Robitaille, who scored his 14th at 15:14.

Stumpel gave the Kings a 5-1 lead when he scored his 11th on a two-on-one break at 17:59.

Vancouver finished the scoring late in the third period when Bure scored his 25th goal of the season at 15:25.