Kings Win Third Straight

Montreal-  After getting blown out by the Islanders by a 5-0 score, goaltender Olaf Kolzig was traded to the Blackhawks for back-up Craig Anderson.  Anderson lost his first start, 3-1 to the Devils, but has since won 3 consecutive games.

GM Coggs made it known he was not happy with Ollie the Goalie's perfomance.  "When Chicago inquired, I had to listen.  They offered Anderson and to me, it was a no-brainer.  Anderson is more than 10 years younger, and gets 1/10th the salary.  Teams need to have a quality back-up these days.  You cannot rely solely on your number one.  He'll get burned out and then you are screwed down the stretch."

The Kings beat New Jersey 4-3, the Oilers 3-2, and crushed the Canadien 5-1 to climb into a tie for 6th place in the Western Conference.  Coggs insisted the team is not getting complacent.  "Look at the standings, Phoenix has put some distance between themselves and the rest of the conference.  After that, it's wide-open.  Only 7 points separate second and last place.  All it will take is one bad streak and you can be out of it."  After a disastrous stretch where the Kings went 1-9-2 over 12 games, they have put together a run of 9-4-2.  "We replaced out coach, made a few trades and things seem to be working out", Coggs told reporters.  "But we are not there yet.  We still have a LONG way to go."

Los Angeles got two goals from Craig Conroy in the 5-1 victory over the Habitantes. Alexei Ponikarovsky, Niko Dimitrakos, and Peter Kanko all added goals.   Lubomir Visnovsky tallied two assists.

Goaltender Craig Anderson made 25 saves.  Anderson has stopped 97 out 106 shots since joining the Kings.