Stumpel Provides the Kings With the Power They Need

The Kings do make it hard on themselves.

Goals by Jozef Stumpel in the second and third periods and an empty-net goal by Bryan Smolinski gave them a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday night, but it could have been so much easier.

Maybe it’s the price of oil. No nukes, perhaps. The Kings would even take energy from coal these days, because they have had no power in their power play.

The man advantage has been no advantage at all for more than two weeks now, and their performance before an announced 18,118 at Staples Center did nothing to change that.

“We moved the puck around and had shots, particularly in that first power play, but couldn’t score,” said Coach Andy Murray, who pronounced the win the first in a best-of-16-game run to the playoffs.

“If we can win nine, we’re in,” he said.

One down, eight to go.

But those eight would come much easier with some power-play goals.

“Really, the people who are struggling are the same people who are struggling when it’s five-on-five,” Murray said.

One of those isn’t Stumpel, who has six goals in his last seven games.

His first Thursday night came at 17:36 of the second period and tied things, 1-1.

The goal was set up by Donald Audette, who beat Sylvain Lefebvre for a puck in the corner and got it to Luc Robitaille, whose hook pass found Stumpel on a line change. Robitaille earned his 500th assist as a King when Stumpel’s shot skittered between the legs of Ranger goalie Mike Richter.

Audette’s play came as something of a surprise, only two nights after he had asked Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, to trade him.

Murray met with a few of the veteran Kings earlier in the day to discuss the situation and came away with the notion to not only play Audette, but to play him at right wing on the second line, where he would be more likely to find success.

“I thought that was as feisty as I’ve seen him play in a while,” Murray said. “He was battling for pucks, getting hits and getting hit and battling, and that’s what we expect of him. I’ll take that game from him any night. That’s what we want from him.”

Audette was just glad to be back on the ice after being scratched for the past two games.

“I just went out to try to play my game, to play hard,” he said. “It’s a battle for us now, and every game is like a playoff game.”

The Kings were 0 for 3 on the power play in the first period, getting only four shots on net.

Worse, the Kings watched New York show them how to take advantage of an advantage, with Michael York popping in a puck only 10 seconds into its first power play.

The shot came from an impossible angle and was made possible only because it caromed off goalie Jamie Storr’s left pad and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

The Kings followed with an 0-for-2 second-period performance and 0 for 1 in the third, making them three for their last 35 chances.

That things stayed as close as they did was largely because of the play of both goaltenders and, in Richter’s case, some attention to defense by the Rangers.

Stumpel’s game-winner came in the third period when he took a pass from Robitaille and beat Brian Leetch for a clean shot at Richter.

The Rangers went off into the night after their second game in as many evenings, and they finished the game the way they started it: only a point into the playoff grid, in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

“Close just doesn’t cut it,” winger Adam Graves said.