Chicago Is Latest Conquest

After missing the playoffs the last four seasons, the Kings on Thursday night took another step in their quest for league-wide respect with a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks before 10,303 at the Forum.

Glen Murray, Vladimir Tsyplakov and Rob Blake each had a goal and an assist, and Ian Laperriere also scored for the Kings, who are 7-3-1 in their last 11 games. Goaltender Stephane Fiset had a strong game, stopping 19 shots to improve to 9-7-3.

The win also completed a 4-2 home stand and improved the Kings’ overall record to 10-8-4. With 24 points, they also moved three points behind the Colorado Avalanche, their opponent in Denver on Sunday, in the Pacific Division.

“I would have liked to have been 6-0,” King Coach Larry Robinson said of the completed home stand. “Certainly, it doesn’t get any easier for us. It’s just part of [what we] have to go through.”

After playing Colorado, the Kings play at Dallas and St. Louis on Wednesday and Thursday.

Against the Blackhawks, who had lost only once in their previous seven games at the Forum, the Kings were in control for most of the night as they outshot Chicago, 35-22.

The Blackhawks, fresh off a 4-0 victory over the Mighty Ducks on Wednesday in Anaheim, received goals from Jeff Shantz, Tony Amonte and Sergei Krivokrasov, but their third-period rally fell short.

Murray, who has nine points in his last six games, got the Kings off to a good start when he scored his eighth goal 8:14 into the game. With Tsyplakov, who had missed two games because of a broken right hand, back in the lineup, Murray beat Chicago goaltender Jeff Hackett from outside the left post after nice set-up passes by Tsyplakov and Yanic Perreault.

“There’s a big difference with Tsyplakov on that line,” Robinson said. “He’s been playing really well and those guys seem to read off of each other.”

It was the ninth time this season the Kings scored first in a game, and they are 9-0 in those games.

Chicago tied the score, 1-1, 13:34 into the period on a goal by Shantz, who deflected a blue-line shot by teammate Eric Weinrich.

The Kings, however, took a 2-1 lead less than two minutes later when Murray assisted on Tsyplakov’s fourth goal. Tsyplakov beat Hackett with a wraparound from the left post at 14:39.

Hackett gave up his second consecutive soft goal nearly four minutes later when Laperriere scored from the blue line, his third goal, to give the Kings a 3-1 lead at 16:12.

With a two-goal lead at the start of the second period, the Kings gave up a short-handed goal by Amonte as Chicago closed within, 3-2, at the 2:54 mark.

Blake then scored the eventual winning goal when he picked up the rebound of his own blocked shot and scored from just outside the crease at 12:55 to put the Kings ahead, 4-2.

Chicago made the game interesting in the third period when Krivokrasov scored a power-play goal at 5:20. But the Kings held on behind Fiset and several hustle plays by their defenders in the final half of the period.

“[Chicago] came at us pretty good at the end,” Blake said. “They made some nice plays and we made some mistakes . . . but again, Fiset made some big stops for us and got us the win.”