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Friday, Oct. 13 10:30pm ET
Bruins lose first of season | |||||
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ian Laperriere couldn't fully enjoy his first career NHL hat trick with other matters pressing on his mind. Laperriere scored his first three goals of the season Friday night to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-0 victory over the Boston Bruins, but his thoughts were with his father who is fighting cancer in Montreal. "He's battling back and he's got a great spirit," Laperriere said. "He'll be the first to be mad at me if I don't focus on hockey. He tells me, `Forget about me. Just focus on your career.' And I'm doing that out of respect for him." Laperriere completed the hat trick with 2:52 left in the game, as Luc Robitaille stole the puck off Hal Gill's stick in the left circle, went behind the net and fed in front. "I just drove to the net and I knew he was looking for me," Laperriere said. "I wasn't sure that it hit me, but Luc said, `Yeah, it did, it did, it did.' So I said, "OK, I guess it did."' Ziggy Palffy scored in his 400th NHL game, Eric Belanger connected on a power play and Steven Reinprecht and Jaroslav Modry each had two assists for Los Angeles. Steve Passmore made his regular-season debut with the Kings and earned his second career shutout. Passmore, who came to Los Angeles on May 1 in a trade from Chicago, made 18 saves to hand Boston its first loss of the season and end the Bruins' three-game winning streak. "You never want to take anything away from the other team, but I don't think we played anywhere near the way we can," said defenseman Paul Coffey, who returned to the Bruins lineup after missing three games because of a bruised left shoulder. "But sometimes it's good to get knocked around a bit and have the wind knocked out of your sails." The Bruins managed only one shot during a two-man advantage they held for a minute and 43 seconds in the third period, and finished 0-for-4 on the power play. "I don't know if we could have played that any better," said Passmore, who got the start because Jamie Storr was late for a morning meeting. "We kept them to the outside and we didn't let them get any passes across the box. "That was really a team shutout, because they didn't have a ton of great scoring chances, and any rebounds that were in front of me were cleared. So it made my job pretty easy." The Kings, who have outscored their opponents 11-0 in the first period of their first five games, needed only nine shots to build a 3-0 lead against former teammate Byron Dafoe -- back in goal after missing two games because of a strained left hamstring. Bruins coach Pat Burns switched to backup Andrew Raycroft at the start of the second period. But it didn't matter to the Kings, who scored on their second shot against the rookie following his victories over Florida and Anaheim. Laperriere converted Reinprecht's pass from behind the net at 2:44 of the second for a 4-0 lead -- the same margin the Kings had in their home opener before St. Louis rallied in the third to salvage a 4-4 tie. "There wasn't much that needed to be said tonight," coach Andy Murray said. "We had our ethnic cleansing this morning when we reviewed the tape from the last game. So they knew what to do." Just nine seconds after Laperriere and Darren Van Impe were sent off for fighting, Palffy opened the scoring at 4:23 with his fourth goal. Modry had the puck at the top of the left circle and fed it into the slot to Palffy, who beat Dafoe between the pads while getting hauled down by Kyle McLaren. Belanger made it 2-0 at 11:28 of the first while Mike Knuble was serving a holding penalty. The Kings center got the puck from Nelson Emerson at the goal line to the left of the net and fed back to him in the slot. Emerson's shot hit a leg in front, but Belanger swept the puck in. Laperriere, who had only nine goals in 79 games last season, gave the Kings a three-goal cushion at 14:40 of the first. He beat Dafoe high to the glove side with a 20-foot wrist shot after getting a drop pass from Reinprecht at the top of the left circle. Game notesKings goalie Stephane Fiset skated lightly at practice Thursday for the first time since spraining his left knee on Sept. 22. Storr started the first four games. ... Unsigned free agent Anson Carter, who scored the first goal in Staples Center history during the season opener last year, continues to bicker with Boston management over a new contract. The team offered him a $1.55 million base salary. ... Palffy and Robitaille are the only Kings to get a point in each of the first five games. ... The Kings are 3-0-2 against Boston since a 5-3 loss to the Bruins on Oct. 15, 1997. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Boston Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 3 New Jersey 1
Los Angeles 5 AUDIO/VIDEO   Eric Belanger scores on the power play.avi: 620 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||