Effort There for King Goaltender Dafoe

For a few minutes early in the third period Saturday night, the Kings looked like they would lose their second goaltender within a week to an injury when Byron Dafoe got tangled with Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson.

As trainer Pete Demers examined Dafoe’s right leg, backup goalie Jamie Storr warmed up and received encouragement from his teammates. But Dafoe refused to leave the game and made several outstanding saves in the final period as the Kings held on to defeat the Senators, 3-1, before 12,086 at the Forum.

Ian Laperriere scored two goals, including an empty-netter in the final seconds, and Ray Ferraro added another as the Kings ended a two-game losing streak and kept alive their playoff hopes.

The Kings have won six of their last eight games and five of their last six at the Forum.

Dafoe, who was removed after two periods in the Kings’ 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday, bounced back with a strong game, getting 44 saves to improve to 12-12-3. With Stephane Fiset sidelined because of a groin and stomach injury, Dafoe will be counted on to keep the Kings in the playoff race.

“It was the way I fell on my knee, I had a cramp or spasm,” Dafoe said. “I’ve had cartilage damage before so that’s what I was afraid of. I didn’t want to move it. [Demers] just massaged it and it felt pretty good after that.”

The last time these teams played in October, the Kings also took a 2-0 lead only to have the Senators rally with two third-period scores to tie the game.

Saturday night the Kings maintained their intensity throughout.

That was evident midway in the third period when captain Rob Blake, playing in his first game in nearly four weeks because of an injured left knee, was penalized for roughing and almost ignited a brawl in front of the Ottawa bench.

Ferraro had been the Kings’ leading goal scorer until recently when he went nearly a month without a goal. But over his last four games, he has scored three times to regain the team lead with 22.

On Saturday he scored the team’s first goal for the 12th time this season. With Ottawa’s Tom Chorske serving a two-minute minor penalty, the Kings’ inconsistent power-play unit scored when Ferraro chased down a rebound of a Philippe Boucher slap shot and scored from outside the left post to put the Kings ahead, 1-0, at 9:51 of the first period.

Nearly four minutes after Ferraro’s score, the Kings took a two-goal lead when Dan Bylsma made a pass from behind the Ottawa net to Laperriere, who scored from the right side of the slot at 13:26.

The Kings’ penalty-killing unit had to come up big early in the second period when the Senators had a two-man advantage for 1:12 but did not score despite three shots on goal. But, Ottawa--which is fighting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference--made the most of its next power play when the Senators’ Alfredsson fired a slap shot from the right circle past Blake and Dafoe to cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 at the 13:37 mark.