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Wednesday, Dec. 8 10:30pm ET
Kings blank Thrashers 4-0 | |||||
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Kings outclassed Atlanta from start to finish in their first-ever meeting because they didn't treat the Thrashers like an expansion team. "We don't come out and look at our opponent as much as we do ourselves," Gary Galley said after Wednesday night's 4-0 victory. "We approach every game with the idea that we want to come out and play the way we have to play in order to win." The Kings are 10-5-2 in their first game against the 17 franchises that entered the NHL after they did in 1967-68, and 4-2-1 against the expansion teams of the 1990s. Los Angeles had a 17-12-6 record against Atlanta's other NHL entry, before the Flames moved to Calgary for the 1980-81 season. "We don't know much about their team because they're a first-year team. But we never want to say we're better than this team or we're better than that team," center Jason Blake said. "We're the type of team that can win on any given night if we go out and work hard. We have a lot of speed up front, and that's what we use to our advantage. So our key to the game was just to get on their defenseman when they have the puck, outwork them down low and hopefully create something." Galley and Glen Murray scored less than three minutes apart in the second period and Jamie Storr breezed to his seventh career shutout with 21 saves. "We know all their guys individually and we know they're all hard-working guys," Galley said. "So we had to match their work ethic and hope that our skill level will win the game for us tonight. And that's what happened." Blake and Luc Robitaille also scored for the Kings, who recorded their first shutout since Stephane Fiset's 2-0 road victory on opening night against last season's expansion entry, the Nashville Predators. Fiset sat out his 12th consecutive game because of a deep bone bruise on his right hand that makes it difficult for him to hold his stick. Storr started for the 11th time during Fiset's absence and has allowed only 20 goals during that span. Thrashers right wing Shean Donovan, acquired earlier on Wednesday from Colorado in a trade for goaltender Rick Tabaracci, thought he had scored the first goal of the game. But it was negated by a penalty called simultaneously against teammate Andreas Karlsson for holding the stick of Mattias Norstrom, and the Thrashers became shutout victims for the fourth time. "He's a young guy, and I would guess he hasn't played too many games with two referees working," Atlanta center Ray Ferraro said of his 23-year-old teammate. "And that is a penalty that two officials call. One official cannot make that call. We learn some things every once in a while, and I'm sure Andy learned something tonight." The Kings opened the scoring about eight minutes later with Blake's goal at 12:04 of the first period. Rookie Brad Chartrand got the puck away from defenseman Petr Buzek in the right corner, skated out in front of the net and jammed his own rebound past Norm Maracle for his third goal of the season. Murray gave the Kings a two-goal margin with his seventh goal in six games and 12th of the season. It lifted him into a tie for the team lead with Ziggy Palffy, who sat out his second straight game because of back spasms. Murray got a stick on Patrik Stefan's attempted clearing pass up the boards with some persistent forechecking, and Donald Audette worked the puck free from Andrew Brunette before finding Murray at the edge of the crease. Ferraro was serving a penalty for interfering with Storr in the crease when Galley made it 3-0 at the 5:32 mark, ending his 21-game goal-scoring drought. Galley got the puck from Murray above the right circle, veered toward the middle and took a 45-foot slap shot that broke off Maracle's pads for his third goal. Robitaille ended the scoring with 3:24 to play, backhanding a rebound of Frantisek Kaberle's shot past Maracle for his 11th goal and first in three games after missing 10 games because of a broken foot. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 0 Buffalo 0
Los Angeles 4
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