Olczyk’s Performance Does the Trick for Kings

What goes around finally came around for the Kings on Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.

After being the sacrificial lamb in ending opposing teams’ losing streaks for most of the season, the Kings got a chance to switch roles with a 6-2 victory over the Canucks in front of 9,548--their smallest Forum crowd of the season.

Eddie Olczyk scored three goals for his first hat trick of the season and Vladimir Tsyplakov added two scores as the Kings ended a four-game drought and stopped a three-game win streak for Vancouver.

The Kings’ victory also paid back the Canucks, who ended their own four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Kings last week at Vancouver.

“We got off to a good start there, and even though they scored a goal to make it close, we kept playing hard,” said Olczyk, whose last hat trick was Dec. 12, 1995 when he played for Winnipeg. “It’s been a long time. It’s nice to finally win a game.”

Kevin Stevens also had a goal and an assist, and Dimitri Khristich and Brad Smyth added two assists for the Kings (14-23-4), who now have won five of their last 22 games.

Goaltender Stephane Fiset was impressive in winning his first game in a month as he stopped 36 of 38 shots. In his previous three starts--including a 5-0 loss to Florida last Saturday night--Fiset had given up 14 goals.

“We’re the type of team that does not have physical players but we still have to have guys go in and play the body,” King Coach Larry Robinson said.

Tsyplakov put the Kings ahead at 2:51 of the first period, when he scored from the right circle after a pass from Kai Nurminen.

The Kings then took a 2-0 lead when Stevens knocked in a rebound of a slap shot by Neal Broten to score the Kings’ 21st power-play goal of the season. Stevens, who has five goals this season, beat Vancouver goalie Corey Hirsch from the slot as the Kings scored their third power-play goal in their last five games.

Vancouver cut the Kings’ lead to 2-1 before the end of the first period when Adrian Aucoin scored from the blue line at 13:56. Fiset was partially blocked by defenseman Aki Berg, who played in his first game since being recalled from the minors Monday.

Olczyk scored his first goal of the game when he knocked in the puck from the crease after Hirsch let a slap shot by Berg slip between his legs at 9:22 of the second period.

The Kings then put the game out of reach at 12:55 when Tsyplakov scored his 11th goal of the season to put the Kings ahead, 4-1. Khristich created the score when he forced the Canucks’ Bret Hedican into a turnover outside the left circle and fed Tsyplakov with a nice pass across the slot.

In the third period, Olczyk scored his final two goals for his fifth career hat trick and the Kings’ first since Vitali Yachmenev scored three times against Montreal March 2, 1996.

Olczyk’s second goal was set up by Ray Ferraro, who dug the puck from behind the Vancouver goal to set up Smyth, who fed Olczyk in the slot at 13:57.

After a goal by the Canucks’ Pavel Bure at 16:41, Olczyk added his third goal when he took in a pass from Stevens and scored an empty-netter in the final minute.

“It was one of Eddie’s better games since he’s been here,” Robinson said about Olczyk, who was signed as a free agent before the season. “A key is that we addressed the fact that he needed to concentrate on getting in better shape. He missed [four games because of flu last month] and he had to put in the effort with his conditioning.”