Jaroslav Modry

After struggling over the last 20 games with their power play, the Kings turned it around in their last three, scoring five goals with a man advantage. Jaroslav Modry did the scoring at Vancouver in a 1-1 tie Tuesday night, and Modry did it again Friday, adding his power-play goal to that of Jere Karalahti in a 3-2 victory over Dallas. On Sunday, Rob Blake and Glen Murray had power-play goals, Murray's coming in overtime and serving as the game-winner in a 4-3 defeat of the Mighty Ducks.

Adding injury to insult Sunday night, the Kings lost defenseman Doug Bodger for four to six weeks because of a broken left hand suffered when he stepped on a puck in the pregame warmup and fell to the ice. Bodger tried to play but left with trainer Peter Demers at 6:08 of the first period. "What is it, Murphy's Law, is that it?" Coach Larry Robinson asked, laughing.

Working to stabilize and finalize their roster before the upcoming expansion draft, the Kings exercised contract options on goalie Jamie Storr and right wing Glen Murray on Wednesday. As usual, the Kings did not release terms, but a source close to the situation said that Storr would earn $1.45 million next season, Murray $1.375 million. Storr had his best NHL season, with an 18-15-5 record and 2.53 goals-against average, sharing time with Stephane Fiset.

The start of a long off-season is only days away for the Kings, who wrap up the Staples Center portion of their schedule tonight against Colorado. But that doesn't mean they'll be idle all summer, or even off the ice. Along with Coach Andy Murray, who was named Monday to lead Team Canada, several will participate in the World Championships starting April 26 in Finland.

Goaltender Stephane Fiset has given up only two goals in winning his last three starts and is 3-1-1 in his last five. "Steph's confidence is up and that's a key," said King Coach Larry Robinson after Fiset made 32 saves in a 3-1 victory over Colorado on Tuesday. "What's helped is that, defensively, the team is playing better. Also, Steph is absorbing the puck much better, and when it bounces out our defense is there for a lot of rebounds."

Defenseman Jaroslav Modry played Thursday night against Tampa Bay, his first action in six games. Modry, who played in 14 of the Kings first 15 games but only twice since then, replaced Doug Zmolek in the lineup. It was the first game that Zmolek has missed this season while healthy; Modry's last appearance also was against the Lightning last month. The Kings are closer to getting defenseman Jan Vopat and left wing Barry Potomski back in the lineup.

The Kings said Friday that they would delay the start of Sunday's game against St. Louis, the Great Western Forum finale, so that fans could see Wayne Gretzky's retirement ceremony on the video board. The game, scheduled for noon, will start at 12:15 p.m. * The Kings missed making the playoffs, but not all of their players have.

The Kings will try to end two losing streaks tonight when they play the Mighty Ducks at the Forum. Not only have they lost their first two games since the All-Star break, but counting a 7-4 loss to the Ducks on Nov. 8, the Kings have lost three consecutive games to their Southern California rival. "Hopefully, we can stop [the losing streaks] now," said King goalie Byron Dafoe, who dropped to 10-8-1 with the Kings' 7-2 loss at San Jose on Wednesday.

When: Friday, 11 a.m. PDT in Buffalo, N.Y. Procedure: The expansion Nashville Predators will select three goaltenders, eight defensemen, 13 forwards and two others at any position (most likely they will be goalies) for a total of 26 players. They can take only one player from each of the existing 26 teams.