Kings’ Flight Lands in Fifth

Pilot, warm up the plane. File a flight plan for Detroit, if you please.

Forget that Colorado business. That’s for sixth-place teams.

The heavy-hitting Kings got goals from light-scoring Jaroslav Modry, Ian Laperriere and Jere Karalahti and standup goaltending from Jamie Storr in a 3-2 victory over Dallas on Friday night at Staples Center.

They also got help from San Jose, whose 3-1 victory at Phoenix enabled the Kings to clinch fifth place in the Western Conference.

“Hey, all that means is that we know we have a longer plane flight,” said winger Luc Robitaille, who assisted on Laperriere’s goal. “We have to win in the playoffs.”

“You know you’re going to have to play somebody good in the playoffs sometime,” added defenseman Rob Blake, who was scratched for the third game in a row because of a bruised knee but said he would play in the season finale.

Though plans await the stamp of approval from television, the King-Red Wing series probably will begin Thursday night in Detroit, with another game next Saturday afternoon.

Games 3 and 4 would be at Staples Center on April 17 and 19.

There remains the matter of a Sunday game against the Mighty Ducks, whose season lost its meaning Friday night when Edmonton finished the playoff bracket by clinching the final spot with a win at Vancouver.

The Kings were more concerned about their situation with Dallas, which had owned them for more than five seasons, holding them without a win for 22 games, until Feb. 11 of this year.

The Kings now have a two-game winning streak over the Stars.

They fashioned the second win by suddenly remembering the “power” part of the power play. They used two goals with a man advantage in fashioning a 3-0 lead midway through the second period.

On the first, Glen Murray set up just behind the goal line and to the left of the Dallas net. He took a pass from Jozef Stumpel and, waiting for an avenue to open, found it and threaded the puck to Modry, who had enough space to skate in a couple of strides and launch a shot from the faceoff circle for a 1-0 lead.

It was Modry’s second power-play goal in as many games.

Suddenly energized, the Kings struck again on a second-period power play with a goal by Karalahti, who rebounded a shot by Stumpel. The goal came at 3:49 and gave the Kings a 3-0 lead.

Perhaps it was a Dallas team going through the motions. Some Dallas players have talked about being able to turn on a switch when the playoffs begin next week, and the Stars are going to have to do just that to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

“It looked like they shut it down,” said Murray, who also assisted on Karalahti’s goal. “I guess they didn’t want to get anybody hurt.”

The Stars ended up with center Joe Nieuwendyk playing only one shift and suffering back spasms that shut down his night. And they had a coach scratching his head.

“I’ve said before that I don’t think we’re playing with the intensity that we did before we clinched,” said Ken Hitchcock, whose team opens its playoffs with a series against either San Jose or Edmonton. “This is not the time to analyze things. The playoffs are the playoffs.”

And the Stars are 0-3-1-1 in their last four games.

One of the reasons is play like that at 17:13 of the opening period when Jamie Pushor whirled and sent a pass that was an effort to clear the puck.

Instead, it remained in the Dallas zone, going to Robitaille’s stick as though there was a magnet there, and he merely waited for Laperriere to clear the defense and beat goalie Manny Fernandez for a 2-0 lead.

Dallas answered the Kings’ goals with two by Kirk Muller, the second coming with 1:14 to play and Fernandez pulled for an extra attacker. It set many of the announced 18,118--the Kings’ 19th sellout of the season--on edge, but Storr took care of the rest.

And so things are settled for the Kings.

“We have been preparing for both Detroit and Colorado,” Coach Andy Murray said. “This makes things a bit easier for the secretarial staff and video staff.”

And for Jon Wolf, the assistant general manager, who handles travel and can book rooms in Detroit.

And cancel them in Denver.

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DUCKS ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFFS

Edmonton’s win over Vancouver knocked Anaheim from the postseason despite its victory at Nashville. Page 6