Laperriere Scores; Predators Don't
The rugged wing nets a pair for the second game in a row helping L.A. down Nashville
(from the Orange County Register)
By Al Balderas
The Orange County Register
February 24, 2004 - LOS ANGELES - Ian Laperriere is ready for the playoffs. He's also doing his best to make sure the Kings get there.
Laperriere scored two goals, picked up his 200th career point and led the Kings to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators in front of 17,612 Monday night at Staples Center.
Cristobal Huet stopped 21 shots for his third shutout of the season.
Laperriere, who scored twice Saturday against Columbus, has scored four of his eight goals in the past two games.
"I got chances, and I buried a couple," he said. "(Linemates) Eric Belanger and Sean Avery have been playing great. They're great on the forecheck, they made great passes and I buried them."
Laperriere also could have credited Predators right wing Scott Walker for his passing. Walker sent a backward pass from the neutral zone to the stick of Belanger to set up Laperriere's first goal.
Laperriere stretched the Kings lead to 3-0 while Walker was serving two penalties by deflecting a Tomas Zizka shot past Predators goalie Tomas Vokoun.
"I don't go by points," Laperriere said. "I've never been looking at points in my career. If you do that, I wouldn't have a good career."
The Predators had scored 18 goals in their previous three games, but Kings defenders Mattias Norstrom and Jason Holland stood up to the Predators' top line, led by Steve Sullivan.
"What we wanted to do was make sure that line was not in the hockey game; that we eliminated them and we played against their other three lines," Kings coach Andy Murray said.
Michael Cammalleri, playing in his second game since being recalled from Manchester, scored in the second period. It was his ninth goal of the season and first since Dec. 8.
INDIVIDUAL IMPORTANCE
The Predators acquired Sullivan in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 16, and the impact was immediate.
Sullivan scored five goals and had five assists in his first three games with the Predators, and on Monday he was selected NHL Offensive Player of the Week. The Kings didn't seem to be particularly impressed and held Sullivan to three shots.
The Kings have accumulated 35 points in their last 32 games and are 25 short of the 94 that Murray thinks are needed to make the playoffs.
Is a Sullivan-type player on the way to Los Angeles? Not necessarily.
The Kings have been able to battle their way through their injury-filled season and with the March 9 trading deadline coming up, Dave Taylor has been talking to other teams.
"I just know that he's on the phone a lot," Murray said.
Murray doesn't want the trading deadline to be a distraction to his players and spent part of Monday morning getting that message out.
"That was kind of our theme in the morning (Monday)," he said. "Everybody on our team is important. They (Nashville) added Sullivan, he's a good player but if we added a Sullivan that would mean that somebody else is coming out of our lineup."
WAIT AND SEE
Kings goalie Roman Cechmanek hasn't skated since suffering a groin muscle injury in last Wednesday's game against the Dallas Stars, so it's unlikely he will see be taken off the injured reserve list when he's eligible Thursday.
Aaron Miller (pinched nerve), Scott Barney (shoulder) and Lubomir Visnovsky (shoulder) haven't shown much improvement of late and also are out indefinitely.