Kings’ Effort Is Still Top of the Line

PITTSBURGH —  The way Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh and Ziggy Palffy are playing, it really doesn’t matter who’s coaching the Kings.

The Kings’ top line was cooking again Wednesday night as it combined for two goals and six points to lead the Kings to a 5-4 victory over the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins before 16,134 at Mellon Center.

“If we want to make the playoffs, our best players are going to have to be our best players and so far after the break, those three guys have been our best players,” King forward Ian Laperriere said.

The Kings (29-20-8-3) are 21-6-4-1 over their last 32 games and have moved within three points of first-place San Jose in the Pacific Division. Even with ailing Coach Andy Murray away from the team because of post-concussion syndrome, the Kings have continued to roll under interim Coach Dave Tippett.

“Even though there are some things we want to work on in our game, we got two wins out of the [Olympic break] and that’s good,” said Tippett, who talked with Murray early Wednesday about the Kings. “It’s unfortunate that [Murray] can’t be here to see it but hopefully, he’ll get back quick.”

For the second night in a row, the Kings fell behind early on a fluke goal. On Tuesday, Columbus jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to poor communication by the Kings. On Wednesday, it was referee Kevin Maguire’s skate that led to the Penguins’ first goal.

After a faceoff in the Kings’ zone, the puck ricocheted off Maguire to wide-open Pittsburgh forward Jan Hrdina, who beat Jamie Storr 5:54 into the game.

It didn’t take long for the Kings to not only tie the score but also open up a two-goal lead. Allison sliced through the Penguins’ defense and scored the Kings’ first goal 66 seconds after Hrdina’s score.

The Kings scored two goals 32 seconds apart when Mikko Eloranta knocked the puck in off a great pass from Laperriere, and Deadmarsh powered in a score to give the Kings a 3-1 lead at 12:19.

“They carried on where they left off from [Tuesday night],” Tippett said about the Allison-Deadmarsh-Palffy line, which combined for four goals and 10 points against the Blue Jackets.

Over their last seven games, the Kings’ top trio has combined for 15 goals and 35 points. Deadmarsh has five goals and seven assists, Allison has three goals and nine assists, and Palffy has seven goals and four assists.

“You can see it in their eyes that they want to be the best players on the ice,” Tippett added. “They want to take the bull by the horns and lead the team in the right direction.”

The Kings led, 3-2, after one period before breaking the game open in the second with a power-play goal from Jaroslav Modry and an even-strength goal from Laperriere.

Modry scored his fourth goal when he was left alone in front of the net as two Pittsburgh defenders followed Deadmarsh. Allison found Modry to give the Kings a 4-2 lead at 6:45.

Laperriere stretched the Kings’ lead to three goals with his eighth on a slap shot from inside the blue line at 11:17. Since returning from the Olympic break, Laperriere and his linemates, Brad Chartrand and Eloranta, have provided the Kings with unexpected offense.

“The more plays you make, the more confidence you get in yourself and your linemates,” Laperriere said. “It’s really enjoyable to work with those two guys.”

In the third period, Pittsburgh defenseman Janne Laukkanen scored his second goal of the game at 5:15 and Alexei Kovalev added a goal with 11.7 seconds remaining. Kovalev’s goal came 20 seconds after the video replay judge waived off a goal by Lemieux, ruling he directed the puck in with his skate.

For Storr, who finished with 23 saves in his first action since defeating Buffalo on Jan. 17, the highlight of the night was to play against Lemieux, who recorded his 1,600th point on Laukkanen’s second-period power-play goal.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Storr, who improve to 8-4-3. “I got to play with and against Gretz [Wayne Gretzky] but I had never played against Mario. He’s still an unbelievable hockey player and he makes everyone around him better.”