Kings Get the Jump on Devils

If you needed to find the Kings’ most influential player in Thursday’s night 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils, his name wasn’t splashed all over the scoring summary.

At first glance, it would seem to be left wing Luc Robitaille, who had four points on two goals and two assists. But long before Robitaille dazzled the crowd with his two third-period goals, the game hung in the balance and another King rose to the occasion.

For that matter, his name didn’t even appear anywhere in the penalty rap sheet. One shot on goal, which came in the second period, was his only tangible statistical contribution.

Defenseman Rob Blake, a goaltender’s best friend, managed to play a prominent role nonetheless in the Kings’ fifth consecutive victory at the Forum. The crowd of 14,592 watched Blake take over in three key situations, among them:

--With the Kings holding a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by Jari Kurri, the Devils’ two-on-one scoring opportunity by Zdeno Ciger and Claude Lemieux was broken up by Blake at 9:10.

--One period later, the Kings had built a 3-0 lead and Blake foiled the Devils again. On this occasion, he broke up a three-on-one, thwarting Lemieux for a second time, at 5:15.

--Finally, for the hat trick of defensive highlights, Blake halted a potential two-on-one, using his terrific reach to stop the outmanned attack with 1:45 remaining in the second. The play enabled the Kings to hold a 3-1 advantage after two periods.

“It was a lucky night, I guess,” Blake said. “I wanted to be aggressive, and at the same time stay on top of them. It just as easily could have gone the other way. It’s like the fear not to succeed. That’s a good kind of fear. It makes you work harder.”

Said King Coach Barry Melrose: “Blake was great tonight. I think Rob Blake is the next big-time defenseman in the NHL. He’s great. How high Rob Blake goes will be determined by Rob Blake. His bad (game) is better than anyone else’s average.”

But it wasn’t as though there were a dearth of other worthy nominees for the Kings (8-4-1). Kurri picked up a goal and two assists, giving him eight points in the last three games. Of course there was his linemate, Robitaille.

Robitaille has 11 goals in the last 10 games, and his third-period effort Thursday was a testament to his offensive skills. Moving from the left to the right, Robitaille blew past Lemieux, shifting the puck from his forehand to the backhand side and beat New Jersey goaltender Chris Terreri from the base of the right circle at 4:41.

The relatively new line of Robitaille-Kurri-Tomas Sandstrom struck again before the game ended. Robitaille got his 11th of the season, converting a rebound by Sandstrom at 12:01.

That line accounted for 10 points.

Naturally, King goaltender Kelly Hrudey can’t be forgotten. Hrudey, who faced 48 shots, only let two get past him.

New Jersey averted the shutout early on the second period when left wing Troy Mallette took a centering pass from right wing Randy McKay and beat Hrudey up high from the edge of the right circle near the hash marks at 5:49.

The Devils got one more late in the game with a power-play goal by Lemieux at 17:39 as he crashed the net and put his third attempt past Hrudey.

But the flurry came a little too late for New Jersey.

Oddly enough, Melrose had worried about the effects of a relatively long layoff, a rare luxury for the team. The Kings hadn’t played since defeating the Hartford Whalers on Saturday, completing a 12-day, six-game trip.

“Four days off is too long,” Melrose said. “It’s a double-edged sword. We needed it off, but it would have been nicer to play yesterday. When you play every two days, your body gets hardened and this (rest) takes away from it.”

King Notes

The Kings made a relatively minor deal after the game, acquiring Jeff Chychrun from the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Peter Ahola. Chychrun, 26, began last season with the Kings before being traded to the Penguins in the deal for Paul Coffey. Ahola, 24, had appeared in eight games this season.