CALGARY'S FLAME-OUT GOOD FOR THE KINGS : KINGS 3 CALGARY 0.

Byline: Roger Phillips

Theo Fleury said it hours before the game. Thursday night, the Kings and Fleury's Calgary Flames went out and lived it.

``We've changed our system,'' Fleury said, ``to a really boring style.''

And in this snoozer, the Kings stayed awake just long enough to record a 3-0 victory before an announced crowd of 10,334 at the Forum. Luc Robitaille scored two goals, Jozef Stumpel scored one and Jamie Storr made 21 saves, few of them difficult, to record his third shutout this season and fifth of his career.

Aside from the goals, the loudest crowd noise of the night was generated by the game's four fights, two involving Sean O'Donnell and two involving Matt Johnson. O'Donnell departed briefly in the third period after receiving a four-stitch cut on his right cheek during a scrap with Todd Simpson.

The victory improved the Kings (16-22-4) to 8-2-1 in their last 11 games and moved them into a tie with the idle San Jose Sharks for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

The Flames (14-26-3) fell to 2-10 in their last 12 games, and it was easy to see why they are struggling to score. Even when trailing, the Flames played passively on offense, preferring to protect goalie Fred Braithwaite and wait for one or two scoring chances that would result in a tying goal.

This is their style, not necessarily a productive one. The Flames have scored only eight goals in their last eight games, and entered play Thursday on an 0 for 32 drought on the power play. Fourteen of their 26 losses have come by one goal.

Against the Kings, the Flames managed no shots in the first 13 minutes, only four in the first period and only six in the second.

The Kings have been pretty inoffensive themselves in recent games. They entered the game hoping to snap out of a recent funk that began with two sloppy victories and a lackluster tie and culminated in a dismal 4-0 loss Monday night at San Jose.

The Kings regained the services of defenseman Doug Bodger, who had missed six games with a cervical strain and bruised shoulder, but lost winger Craig Johnson to a first-period rib injury. Johnson underwent precautionary X-rays, results of which were not immediately available.

The Kings began the night with only one goal in their previous two games, and that had come from Rob Blake with a two-man advantage in Saturday's 1-1 tie with Edmonton.

Once again, it took a two-man advantage for the Kings to get on the scoreboard Thursday. Robitaille scored the 501st goal of his career 3:24 into the game, shooting into a wide-open net off a cross-ice feed from Donald Audette.

But until late in the game, the Kings were unable to accomplish much else against the cautious Flames.

As for Storr, he had little to do in the first two periods, but four minutes into the third, he was tested by Fleury from close range.

And as the third period progressed and it dawned on the Flames that they needed to score at least one goal, Calgary finally began to press offensively, though rarely dangerously.

This didn't translate into a lot of shots, and one of the most ominous moments for the Kings came with less than eight minutes to play, when Calgary entered the Kings' zone on a 3-on-1 rush. But Blake hurried back to break up the play, and the Flames didn't even manage a shot on goal.

With 4:33 left, Robitaille finally put the game away with his 24th goal this season, scoring on a 2 on 1 off another pass from Audette. Robitaille is second in NHL goal scoring, trailing only Philadelphia's John LeClair, who has 26.

Stumpel completed the scoring with 4:07 to play, with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle off a pass from Vladimir Tsyplakov.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Calgary's Chris Dingman, right, fights off the Kings' Steve Duchesne in the first period of L.A.'s 3-0 victory.

(2) Kings' Jamie Storr, right, makes one of his 21 saves against Calgary's Jarome Iginla, his third shutout.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press