Stephane Fiset

The Kings will be without goalie Stephane Fiset for at least a week because of a groin/stomach injury he suffered in the first period of their 4-1 loss at Edmonton on Tuesday. To provide backup for Byron Dafoe, the Kings will call up Jamie Storr from their Phoenix minor league affiliate.

The Kings were finally successful Tuesday in their season-long quest to unload goaltender Stephane Fiset. Fiset, who had spent the entire season with the Kings' American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H., and has been hampered by knee injuries the last two years, was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. With a contract that pays him $2.7 million this season, with a club option for next season at $2.

Stephane Fiset, the odd man out in the Kings' goaltending rotation, left his pregnant wife behind and flew east Thursday to join the Kings' American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H. He wasn't thrilled, but he was no longer seething. "I'm going there with an open mind," said Fiset, who was limited to seven games with the Kings last season because of a knee injury. "I'm going there to win some games and get my game back ....

After giving up an average of 22 shots a game over their previous three, the Kings gave up 38 shots against Colorado in their 2-1 overtime win over the Avalanche on Sunday night. In the first period, however, they held Colorado to only four shots on goal, a vast improvement from the 29 they gave up in the first period against the Avalanche in a game last season. In that game, Colorado tied a King opponent record for most shots in a period and finished with 51 against goaltender Stephane Fiset.

Stephane Fiset, who will start in goal tonight in the Kings' exhibition game at Denver against the Colorado Avalanche, has a tough act to follow. Byron Dafoe set a high standard by stopping 31 shots Sunday in the Kings' exhibition opener. Fiset, who did not allow a goal in two scrimmages and an intrasquad game, is ready for the challenge. "If I play good, Larry [Robinson, the Kings' coach] is going to put me in the net," Fiset said. "I'll just wait to see what happens."

Goaltender Byron Dafoe suffered a right thumb injury in the Kings' 3-2 loss to Chicago on Saturday at the Forum and did not make the trip for tonight's game at Calgary. Stephane Fiset will start and the Kings' recalled Jamie Storr from Phoenix, their minor league affiliate, on Sunday. Defenseman Jan Vopat, who has sat out the last five games because of an ankle injury, did make the trip and is questionable for tonight's game.

Stephane Fiset will start in goal in the Kings' opener Saturday night in Nashville, and don't be surprised if he continues to play the majority of the time. Though Coach Andy Murray believes he has two No. 1 goalies, Fiset appears to have won the starting job based on his performance in exhibition play. Fiset was 3-1 with a 1.50 goals-against average to Jamie Storr's 1-2-1, 2.38. * One marked change in the Kings from last season has been the stability of the first three lines.

Stephane Fiset made 37 saves for his first shutout of the season and Joe Sakic scored his league-leading 16th power-play goal as Colorado beat Boston, 3-0, Tuesday night at Boston in a game originally scheduled for Monday. Because the Avalanche plays again tonight in Denver, goalie Patrick Roy was sent home early. * Steve Thomas scored twice as New Jersey defeated St. Louis, 4-2, at East Rutherford, N.J. St. Louis center Adam Creighton broke his jaw in the third period. . . .

With such a glut of centers that two are usually scratched, the Kings added another Thursday when they claimed Brandon Convery off waivers from Vancouver. "Any time you are on waivers, you don't know where you are going," he said. "I was ecstatic to find out it was L.A." So ecstatic that he was in Los Angeles and available to play Thursday night against the Rangers. And was scratched. Convery, 24, had two goals and nine points in 12 games for the Canucks, who scratched him in four other games.

Goaltender Felix Potvin, who has started nine consecutive games since the Kings acquired him from Vancouver Feb. 15, has been too busy to feel fatigued. "Basically, this time of year, all you've got to think about is winning games," said Potvin, who made 20 saves in the Kings' 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday. "We've been doing pretty good so far, but we can't afford to be satisfied. Andy [Murray, the Kings' coach] has done a good job resting me between games.

While the Kings' goalie-go-round came back to Jamie Storr Saturday night, the man who was set to keep all of this from happening was watching from the seats. Stephane Fiset is rehabilitating a knee-ligament injury that he spent most of the autumn rehabilitating. "I've told them not to tell me how long it's going to take," said Fiset, who re-injured his knee when Minnesota's Wes Walz slid into him in the opening period of a Dec. 22 game at St. Paul.

Another MRI exam has revealed a familiar picture for King goalie Stephane Fiset. A ligament in his left knee is injured again. Officially, doctors on Saturday said Fiset suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in the knee when Minnesota's Wes Walz skidded into him while scoring the Wild's first goal in a 4-3 victory Friday night at St. Paul. Fiset injured the same ligament in an exhibition game in September at the Arrowhead Pond.

King goalie Stephane Fiset has another date with an MRI machine today after he was run over by Minnesota's Wes Walz, who in the process scored the Wild's first goal in its 4-3 victory Friday night. "I don't know what happened. I was watching the puck," said Fiset, who injured the same knee that kept him out of the season's first 25 games after he suffered a strained ligament in an exhibition game in September. Because of the initial injury, he was wearing a knee brace.

Three weeks ago, Stephane Fiset was rehabilitating eagerly, even after being told that after his recovery from a knee injury, he was coming back as the Kings' No. 2 goalie. Now he has recovered and tonight against Dallas, he's No. 1. And Saturday at Edmonton, Jamie Storr is No. 2. And Sunday at Vancouver, Fiset is No. 1. All of this proves that with the Kings, the more things change, the more they stay the same in net. "I'm fine with that," Fiset said after being told the schedule Wednesday.

King Coach Andy Murray was a bit evasive Friday afternoon, but it's clear that Stephane Fiset will start tonight in goal against Minnesota. It's just as clear that Jamie Storr will come back Sunday night at the Arrowhead Pond against the Mighty Ducks. Fiset, out since Sept. 22 because of a knee ligament strain suffered in an exhibition against the Ducks, turned back 25 shots Wednesday night in a 3-3 tie for Lowell against Norfolk in an American Hockey League rehabilitation assignment.

Site--The Pond of Anaheim. Time--7:30. TV--Channel 9. Radio--KEZY-FM (95.9), XTRA (690). Records--Ducks 2-10-3, Kings 7-6-3. Series record (1995-96)--Kings, 3-2-1. Duck update--The defense has been atrocious, giving up a Western Conference-high 60 goals and leaving goaltender Guy Hebert with a 3.98 goals-against average. It's the main reason for the Ducks' league-low two victories. The offense has picked up since Paul Kariya's return from an abdominal injury.

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.

After his first minor-league game in 10 years, and then a cross-country flight, goalie Stephane Fiset reported to the Kings' facility in El Segundo on Thursday no worse for the wear and eager to begin playing in the NHL again. A practice today will go a long way toward determining when that will be. Fiset stopped 25 shots in Lowell's 3-3 tie with Norfolk of the AHL on Wednesday, though observers called two of the surrendered goals "bad."

The nets were moved to the blue line for the last drill Wednesday, and the Kings sent two players on a mission to score on each goalie, which meant that shots came quickly, as did rebounds unhindered by defense. Goaltenders flopped all over the ice. Stephane Fiset passed the test. "It felt pretty good," said Fiset, who last played a game in goal for the Kings on Sept. 22, in an exhibition at the Arrowhead Pond.