Courtnall Gives Kings The Blues
Geoff Courtnall, known as a player who can get under an opponent's skin, frustrated an entire team this time.
Courtnall set a team record with six points on a goal and five assists as the St. Louis Blues opened the playoffs with an 8-3 victory over the outmanned Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night. He said it's been a long time since he's had a game like this.
"I don't know. Peewee?" Courtnall said. "The game wasn't very easy, but the goals were easy. We got a lot of lucky bounces."
Courtnall has never scored more than 80 points in a season and he led the Blues with a modest 31 goals this season. Throughout his career he's been valuable as a complementary player adept at drawing penalties.
But in 13 career playoff games against the Kings he has seven goals and 15 assists.
Besides breaking the points record by one, he also tied the franchise assist record set by Doug Gilmour in 1986 against Minnesota.
"He was hot," said teammate Jim Campbell, who had two goals off Courtnall assists. "Every time he touched it, someone put it in the net."
Pierre Turgeon and Pavol Demitra also each scored twice and Brett Hull had a goal and three assists for the Blues, who were 3-0-1 against Los Angeles in the regular season. The Blues never scored more than seven goals in the regular season, but took full advantage of the youthful Kings, in the playoffs for the first time in five years, by tying the team record for playoff scoring.
"They beat us in every phase of the game," Kings defenseman Rob Blake said. "We said we were going to shut the down in the neutral zone, we didn't do that.
"We said we were going to be disciplined, and we didn't do that. Everything we said we wanted to do, we never did."
The Blues have had eight goals twice in the playoffs, against Vancouver in 1995 and Winnipeg in 1982. They also tied a team record with four second-period goals, sending a sellout crowd of 20,120 into a towel-waving frenzy.
Game 2 is Saturday night in St. Louis. Following playoff tradition, neither team felt the opening rout would have an impact on the rest of the series.
"We can't expect it's going to be a cakewalk," Campbell said. ``There are a bunch of great players over there and you know they're not going to lay down."
Kings coach Larry Robinson didn't appear too discouraged about the loss in his playoff coaching debut.
"Each game is a new day," Robinson said. "We all start back at square one."
Courtnall led the Blues with 31 goals, and in 13 career playoff games against the Kings he has seven goals and 15 assists. Besides breaking the points record by one, he also ied the franchise assist record set by Doug Gilmour in 1986 against Minnesota.
Mario Lemieux was the last player with six points in a postseason game. He did it in Pittsburgh's 6-4 victory over Washington on April 23, 1992.
Courtnall, who had two goals and three assists against the Kings in the regular season, was a big part of the Blues' quick start. He set up Demitra 1:42 into the game and then scored on a power play at 4:42.
He slid the puck across the crease to set up Turgeon's power-play goal that made it 3-1 in the second; got the second assist on Campbell's goal that made it 4-1; and made a nice backhand set-up from behind the net that Campbell finished off for a 5-1 lead.
The Blues beat the kings 7-3 in the next-to-last game of the season, and this one was just like that meaningless game -- except for a lack of fights. That game was notable for its 156 penalty minutes, but Game 1 was fairly civil, considering the score.
Craig Johnson, Glen Murray and Luc Robitaille scored for the Kings, who trailed 8-1 early in the third period.
Kings goalie Stephane Fiset, who allowed 33 goals in his last nine starts, continued to struggle. Campbell's second goal of the second period chased Fiset, who allowed five goals on 27 shots, in favor of Jamie Storr.
Storr had no better luck when Turgeon finished a rush with a wraparound that made it 6-1 at 15:12 of the second, Hull scored at 16 seconds of the third and Demitra scored at 1:08.
Blues goalie Grant Fuhr won his 81st career playoff game, breaking a tie with Ken Dryden for third on the career list. He also had an assist.
Both teams continued trends from the end of the season. The Blues won nine of their last 12 to finish with 98 points, tied for fourth overall, while the Kings limped home 5-8.
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