Los Angeles Kings 4, Minnesota Wild 0
BOXSCORE
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- One day after finding out that his playing time will be decreased, Jamie Storr turned away 21 shots as the Los Angeles Kings ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 blanking of the expansion Minnesota Wild.
Storr turned away eight shots in the third period after making 13 saves over the first 40 minutes for his first shutout since an 8-0 romp over the Dallas Stars on January 30 and fourth of the season. Storr, who has been solid as the No. 1 goaltender since Stephane Fiset went on injured reserve at the end of December, improved to 19-17-6. But he most likely will be relegated to backup duty again after the Kings acquired Felix Potvin from Vancouver on Thursday.
Ziggy Palffy had a goal and two assists and Luc Robitaille scored his team-leading 28th goal and set up another as the Kings won for just the third time in their last 11 games (3-7-1-0). "It felt good to get a goal and have a pretty good game," said Palffy, who had only one goal in his previous 10 contests. "It's sticking together and coming together as a team tonight that helped us."
Since winning five of seven games, the Wild have managed just 35 shots on goal in back-to-back losses. One of those five victories was a 4-1 triumph at Los Angeles on January 27. "Tonight we had a (positive) mind set," Los Angeles coach Andy Murray said. "It was unheard of if someone said we could come in here and score three to four goals tonight because we give this team a lot of respect."
Minnesota had killed off all 32 of its shorthanded situations in its last eight games, but Los Angeles tallied twice in three chances with the man advantage. "When you have a team that scores goals like theirs there's a point when you get down and it's hard to come back," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We made mistakes, took penalties out of frustration. (Then) we have to fight back and get in the game and also stay in the game."
Defenseman Mathieu Schneider's power-play goal opened the scoring with 8:07 remaining in the first period. Palffy had the puck along the right boards and skated toward the faceoff circle before sending a pass to the slot where Schneider fired a slap shot by goaltender Jamie McLennan for his 15th goal. Palffy doubled the lead just over 14 minutes into the second when he took a pass from Jozef Stumpel and fired a one-timer past McLennan for his 26th goal.
Robitaille's power-play marker pushed the advantage to 3-0 with 2:40 left in the second. Schneider had the puck at the point and sent a pass to the top right crease where Robitaille redirected it over McLennan's left pad. Nelson Emerson got his first goal since February 6 and ninth of the season for the final margin with 8:24 left in the third.
The Kings controlled the puck in Minnesota's zone for the majority of the third period. McLennan gloved a soft wrist shot by Wes Walz with 2:14 to play and the Wild's last shot was came with 53 seconds left. Sylvain Blouin released a wrist shot from the slot that bounced off Storr's stick, but the goalie covered the puck before anyone could get to the rebound.
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