Kings Crown Canucks

Jozef Stumpel scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings beat Vancouver 5-2 in the first of four late-season meetings Friday night.

Stumpel made it 4-0 with his goals early in the second period as the Kings improved to 9-3 in their last 12 games.

Stumpel scored the winning goal 23 seconds into the second period, then added his second 2:54 later after a miscue at the Vancouver blue line gave the Kings a 2-on-1 break. Vancouver goaltender Felix Potvin stopped Stumpel's first shot, but couldn't control the rebound and Stumpel put it into a wide open net.

Fiset stopped 21 shots for Los Angeles and improved to 16-14-4 on the season. Fiset had a shutout going with 5:41 to play in the third period, but was beaten by defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who skated in from the point and snapped a wrist shot from 20 feet under Fiset's glove.

Luc Robitaille extended his point-scoring streak to 12 games with an assist on Stumpel's first goal. Robitaille has 10 goals and 10 assists over that stretch.

Los Angeles outshot Vancouver 26-12 in the first two periods and finished with a 31-28 advantage.

Los Angeles opened thscoring in the first period when Len Barrie one-timed a rolling puck from 20 feet that beat Potvin on the stick side. Craig Johnson made it 2-0 when he batted a rebound past Potvin with 4.6 seconds left in the first period.

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