series game kings flames los angeles kings notes and game reports kings calgary flames the third place kings opened the stanley cup playoffs in calgary against the second place flames and came out with an impressive victory in front of a non sellout crowd of at the saddledome in calgary symthe division playoff hockey this was both teams seemed a bit tense in the opening period though the kings scored off the opening face off the kings got into the flow of the game much earlier than the flames as they played out standing team defense it took the flames of the first period to record their first shot on goal the kings ranked th of the playoff teams on penalty killing shut down the flames the flames went on the power play and could record only shot on goal in those opportunities the kings had their problems on the power play yet they did manager to score goals in tries the kings forwards back checked while the defense stood the flames up at the blue line allowing the kings to take took the home ice advantage away from the flames rob blake missed the game due to the lower back contusion but is ex pected to be in the lineup on wednesday wayne gretzky suffered a charlie horse in his right leg he took a few shifts in the second period before retiring to the dressing room for the rest of the game interviewed on the radio this morning he stated that he was fine and would be in the lineup on wednesday st period the kings got things started right off the opening face off gretzky won the draw with the puck going to sydor he crossed center ice and slapped the puck into the flames zone and behind the net the puck carried around to the far side where robitaille wacked at it and the rebound bounced to sandstrom he put the puck behind the flames net where gretzky picked it up gretzky set up in his office moved to the near side and passed into the near circle where sydor had moved in sydor who got the puck between the face off dot and the hash mark shot off the pass beating vernon low and between the legs millen and fleury went off at skrudland went off at but the kings failed to convert carson went off at and the flames failed to convert dahlquist went off at and dahl went off at giving the kings a second on which they failed to convert the kings recorded goal posts in the period nd period the kings opened with a on carried over from the st period which they failed to convert on with seconds left in the on vernon put a bouncing puck into the stands and received a delay of game calgary evened the score on the ensuing kings power play kurri with the puck in the neutral zone tried to put the puck into the flames zone but it hit the stick of fleury and bounced to suter at the flames blue line suter skated down the near wing and into the kings zone he faked a shot at the circle and skated around kurri as he cut thorugh the crease he got hrudey to go with him and he put the puck behind hrudey on his stick side for a short hander the kings reclaimed the lead seconds later on the same power play shuchuk in the far circle passed to sydor at the top of the slot and headed for the net sydors shot hit shuchuk in the back and dropped into the low slot where kings shuchuk and granato were being checked by flames carson came from the far corner picked up the loose puck and snapped a wrist shot between the legs of vernon from feet above the crease the kings widened their lead just seconds later rychel was checked off the puck at the flames blue line taylor picked up the puck and sent a pass cross the slot to huddy huddy shot off the pass from the near face off dot beating a diving vernon on the glove side later the kings had a goal lead mcsorley took a shot form the near point that hit a flame and deflected towards the boards marty got his own rebound skated to the bottom of the circle and sent a pass into the low slot that hit dahlquist on the leg and deflected past the stick of vernon skrudland went off at but the kings could not convert sydor went off at and watters went off at giving the flames a second but they failed to convert mcsorley went off at and the flames had consecutive power plays but the flames killed it themselves when suter went off for high sticking at sandstrom went off at to close out the period the kings hit goal post in the period rd period the kings used the phrase initiate not retaliate and it was very evident here in the rd period as the kings continued to pound the body and the flames continued to take bad penalties to take themselves out of the game the kings extended their lead to goals at the mark the kings shot the puck into the near corner of the flames zone vernon went behind the net to cut off the puck but he could not control it donnelly who was behind him wacked at the puck sending it into the low slot as vernon slid back in to the crease granato got a shot that hit a flame and bounced to the left of the net where millen fired the rebound behind vernon sydor went off at nieuwendyk went off at as the teams skated on otto skating down the far side stepped around mcsorley cut to the net and passed to dahlquist in the low slot dahlquist cut through the top of the crease and put the puck in under a diving hrudey carson and rychel came in on a when carson passed across to rychel fleury tripped rychel with no call the puck got shoveled into the far corner where fleury knocked rychel down and checked him from behind into the boards drawing a minute major and a game misconduct at the mark unfortunately the kings squandered the minute power play when granato at and watters at took penalties the flames closed to within at the mark macinnis at the near point passed to yawney at the far point he took a few strides towards the net wound up and drove a shot off the near post and in over the glove of hrudey the play started on another faceoff that the kings lost timeout la macinnis took a penalty at and the kings converted on the power play to seal the victory sandstrom skating down the far wing in the flames zone cut towards the back of the net just as he crossed the goal line he passed the puck into the low slot on the far side to carson who shot off the pass beating vernon on the ice stick side at the mark skrudland went off for slashing and stern went crazy as he went after shuchuk stern wound up with a double minor for roughing a single minor for cross checking and a minute misconduct and he took the flames right out of the game on the plus side the kings for the most part played very disciplined hockey as they let calgary retaliate the kings played good team defense and excellent penalty killing on the minus side the kings lost almost every face off this must improve or the flames will surely get that power play back on track notes the kings recalled guy leveque brandy semchuk and jim thomson from phoenix wayne gretzkys st period assist was his th career playoff point the kings entered the game th in the league in shots per game against giving the opposing team an average of shots per game flames goaltender mike vernon entered the game with a record in afternoon games the flames entered the game with a success rate on the power play over their last games the teams were against each other in the regular season playoffs campbell conference smythe division la cal la leads win van norris division stl chi stl leads tor det wales conference adams division buf bos ot buf leads mon que ot que leads patrick division nj pit pit leads nyi was was leads records vs smythe norris patrck adams overall home road total box score calgary los angeles st period la sydor gretzky sandstrom la millen high sticking cal fleury high sticking cal skrudland interference la carson tripping cal dahlquist holding stick cal dahl roughing nd period cal verson delay of game served by ashton cal suter fleury sh la carson shuchuk sydor pp la huddy taylor rychel la mcsorley unassisted cal skrudland elbowing la sydor tripping la watters hooking la mcsorley holding cal suter high sticking la sandstrom hooking rd period la millen granato donnelly la sydor hooking cal nieuwendyk tripping cal dahlquist otto cal fleury major boarding game misconduct la granato tripping la watters interference cal yawney macinnis reichel cal macinnis roughing la carson sandstrom robitaille pp la hardy holding cal skrudland slashing cal stern double roughing cross checking min misconduct overtime none shots los angeles calgary power play conversions for of for the year of against of for the year of goalies los angeles hrudey calgary vernon attendance scratches rob blake back contusion guy leveque numbers lonnie loach numbers marc potvin numbers brandy semchuk numbers robb stauber numbers brent thompson numbers jim thomson numbers lines forwards robitaille gretzky sandstrom donnelly millen kurri rychel conacher taylor granato carson shuchuk lines defense huddy sydor watters zhitnik hardy mcsorley denotes starting lineup next game wednesday april calgary flames pm pacific time on prime ticket stan 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