Tough ‘Tender

The wait to interview a goaltender after he has been pulled in a game can seem like an eternity for a reporter. Especially when the goalie is Stephane Fiset of the Kings, known to be his own toughest critic.

That was the case Saturday night after Fiset had given up four goals before being replaced by Frederic Chabot in the second period of the Kings’ 7-2 loss at Toronto. It was only the fifth time in 69 King starts that Fiset was fit to play but failed to finish a game.

Fiset, however, did not hide. He answered every question and made no excuses.

“It was the worst game that I’ve played this year,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I played a bad game like this. I’ll take the blame.”

Even so, Fiset is expected to start again tonight as the Kings try to end a losing streak at three games when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Forum. And just as the Kings have finally realized that they have to win as a team if they want to be taken seriously, Fiset has learned that he only has to prove to himself that he belongs as a No. 1 goalie for an NHL team.

“When I started in the league [as Quebec’s second-round draft choice in 1987], I was so nervous,” he said. “I used to read every paper, just to see what people said about me. Now, I have confidence in myself and I guess that’s why I’m so easygoing. I don’t care what people say about me, I just go out and do my best every night.”

When Fiset is on top of his game, the Kings have shown they can defeat the league’s elite teams--Detroit, Colorado, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

But when he isn’t playing as well, defensive mistakes have cost them in losses to lower-level teams Toronto, Ottawa and Boston.

Fiset’s importance is not lost on his teammates.

“Stephane has been standing on his head [a hockey term for solid goaltending],” said teammate Luc Robitaille, who grew up in the same hometown as Fiset outside Montreal and as a youth was coached by Fiset’s father. “When you want to win the big games, you have to have a goaltender playing like that.”

Fiset was at his best in a 2-1 overtime victory at Colorado last month when he made 37 saves, among them three remarkable stops in the third period that left his former teammates shaking their heads.

“That was the best game that I’ve ever played,” Fiset said. “I had played some good games before, but that game was my best. I saw the puck really well--it looked as big as a beach ball. Everything went right that game. I wish I could play like that every game.”

In his eight NHL seasons, Fiset has always been rated a notch below the league’s top goalies. Even when he was 22-6-7 with Colorado during the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup championship season two years ago, Fiset finished as the team’s No. 2 goalie, once Patrick Roy was acquired from Montreal.

“It was frustrating because I had grown up playing with [the Quebec Nordiques, who moved to Colorado] and I felt like it was my team,” Fiset said. “I knew we were right there and I was having a good season. I thought that I could do the same job that Patrick did. But, you can’t blame them for making the trade. I just decided to keep quiet.”

Despite his winning overall record, the jury was still out on whether Fiset was a true No. 1 goalie when the Kings acquired him from Colorado in June of 1996 because he had never started more than 50 games in a season.

Then Fiset had a disastrous 1996-97 season. He shared playing time with Byron Dafoe and struggled to a 13-24-5 record with a 3.19 goals-against average. His season ended early when he needed hernia surgery.

Before the start of this season, Fiset was the 18th-rated goaltender by Hockey News. And Sherry Ross, who publishes a preseason scouting report, did not give him a profile, writing that Jamie Storr, the seventh pick overall of the 1994 draft, would end up as the Kings’ No. 1 goalie.

But after a summer of wondering whether he would even stay with the Kings, Fiset got a strong vote of confidence when Dafoe was traded to Boston before the start of training camp.

With Dafoe gone, Fiset knew he had to step up. And his role grew when Storr was put on injured reserve because of a groin injury in training camp.

So far, he hasn’t disappointed with an 11-10-3 record and 2.73 goals-against average.

“I think he would have been like this last year if had he been healthy,” Coach Larry Robinson said. “ . . . He gives it his all. That’s what’s nice about him.”

Fiset, who has never played any other position, says the Kings are better because he has gotten to know his teammates better.

“I’m not like the typical goalie,” he said. “I don’t like to be by myself. I like to be around all of the guys and having fun. I think that it helps because when you are with the guys more off the ice, it helps communication on the ice. . . . You can’t stay away from them outside and then step on the ice and want them to protect you.

“It was hard at the beginning last season because no one knew how I played and I didn’t know how our defenseman played either. This year, we’re having better communication between me and the defensemen. Now they know that I like to play the puck. . . . I’m not getting in trouble anymore.”

Fiset says his goal is to help the Kings end a playoff drought of four years and to win 25 games with a goals-against average under 3.0 this season.

“I like the way management is running the team,” he said. “[The Kings] want to win the [Stanley Cup] and they want to win so bad, just like me. They started at the bottom but you can see they want to go higher. I wanted to be with a team that built itself up, just like we did in Quebec [and eventually Colorado].”

And this time, Fiset plans to be on the ice.

*

* HELENE ELLIOTT

Former Capital General Manager David Poile has a new challenge in Nashville. C6

* ROUNDUP

Vancouver Coach Mike Keenan has miserable time in his return to St. Louis. C7

* KING REPORT

They will try to move above .500 in tonight’s game against Pittsburgh. C7

* DUCK REPORT

Coach Pierre Page put his team through a lengthy training-camp type workout. C7