Goalie Issue Again Will Come to a Head

Because Jamie Storr had a headache, the Kings were spared one.

For the moment, anyway.

If Storr hadn’t suffered a concussion Monday when Geoff Courtnall knocked him into a goalpost, Coach Larry Robinson would have faced a difficult decision Wednesday. Who would he have started in goal for the most important game of the Kings’ season: Storr, who was superb despite losing Games 2 and 3 of their series against St. Louis, or Stephane Fiset, who played well most of the season but admittedly put too much pressure on himself and lost the opener?

Storr’s headaches, which tests Wednesday determined were symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, saved Robinson from making that choice. But the Kings’ quick playoff exit brings them closer to the day they will have to decide whether Storr or Fiset will be their number one goalie.

Fiset made 32 saves in the Kings’ season-ending 2-1 loss, earning a standing ovation from the 16,005 fans at the Forum for blunting three first-period St. Louis power plays but deflating the crowd when he let a wrist shot by Craig Conroy sail over his right shoulder at 3:22 of the third period for the Blues’ second goal. Clearly, over the course of this brief series, Storr outplayed Fiset. “The bigger the game, the stronger he plays,” Robinson said of Storr.

The goaltending question this season became moot only because Storr suffered a groin injury during training camp and was in the minor leagues until December. By the end of the season, he was playing better than Fiset, finishing with a 6-3-1 record and 1.98 goals-against average in his last 10 games. Fiset, by comparison, was 3-7 with a 3.62 goals-against average in his last 10 games.

Robinson started Fiset in the series opener, adhering to the unwritten rule that you stay with the goalie who got you there. However, Fiset’s struggles and Storr’s poise under duress have changed the long-term picture.

Storr is 22 and Fiset will be 28 in June. If the Kings have two good, young goaltenders, do they keep both or trade one to get a top-six forward or the power-play quarterback they lack on defense? It won’t be easy to keep both sharp or happy. A trade would make sense, and don’t be surprised if that’s seriously discussed this summer.

Fiset and Storr get along well, sharing knowledge and a stretch of the back wall in the Kings’ locker room. “If you put it like a rivalry, I think that’s not going to work,” Fiset said. “It’s not going to be good chemistry for the team. Even though he played the second and third games, I tried to help him, to talk to him about what could happen. We try to help each other, more like a friend.”

The Kings’ first-round draft pick and seventh overall in 1994, Storr is placid and even-tempered, so imperturbable that teammates say they check his pulse to be sure he’s awake. Fiset, the only King player to own a Stanley Cup ring--which he earned as Patrick Roy’s seldom-used backup during Colorado’s 1996 Cup run--is more extroverted. Both are excellent stickhandlers.

“They’re different, yet they’re the same,” Robinson said. “Both are guys that you’d like to go to war with. One guy wears his emotions on his sleeve and one keeps his emotions inside. [Storr] tries to make it look like he’s strong, but we’re all real pussycats.”

Although Storr was strong in the face of the Blues’ power-play barrage Monday, he wept in the locker room after the game, unnecessarily taking the blame for the Kings’ collapse and their 4-3 loss. Had they killed the five-minute major penalty against Sean O’Donnell--and if they hadn’t taken so many early penalties that exhausted their penalty killers--they could have escaped with minor damage instead of being turned inside out and upside down.

None of the goals was Storr’s fault, a message Robinson literally went out of his way to deliver. Storr left the Forum so quickly Monday, Robinson didn’t have a chance to console him. After learning Storr was distraught, Robinson stopped at Storr’s house on his way home to prop up the goalie’s spirits.

“We just talked and I said we had opportunities to win the game and that it wasn’t one particular incident that was our downfall,” Robinson said.

Until doctors prohibited him from playing, Storr hoped to be in uniform Wednesday. “He would have had to be dead to not want to be in there, which is great,” Robinson said. “He’s a competitor.” Too much of a competitor, maybe. Storr had told trainer Pete Demers he was fine after the hit, which sent him spinning into the post for a head-on-metal collision. When he correctly answered questions about the score and what had happened, Demers let him remain in the game. “I don’t think it affected my play,” Storr said. “Those were four good goals.”

Despite his headaches, Storr was in a light mood Wednesday morning after a brief workout. Sitting next to Fiset in the locker room, he asked Mike Altieri, the Kings’ media relations director, whether fans would chant “Steph-ane” or “Fee-set” to salute his goaltending partner, just as they had acclaimed him Monday with chants of “Ja-mee! Ja-mee!”

A small gesture, but one that showed his confidence in Fiset and put his teammate in a positive frame of mind on a day the Kings needed all the encouragement they could find. It wasn’t enough for them to defeat a team that is deeper and more talented in every area, but Storr at least gives them hope. And, perhaps, answers.