In the Battle of the Bad, North Stars Beat Kings

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. —  The Minnesota North Stars snapped a six-game winless streak with a 4-2 victory over the Kings Saturday night in front of 14,490 fans at the Met Center.

The North Stars, who had only one win and three ties in their last 11 games, scored four unanswered goals against King goalie Darren Eliot in the first and second periods before the Kings rallied for a pair of goals.

After the first 20 games of the 1985-86 National Hockey League season, the Kings have a 5-14-1 record and are in last place in the Smythe Division. The Kings were 10-7-3 at this point last season.

“I don’t give a (bleep) what happened last year,” King left wing Dave (Tiger) Williams said. “Last year is over. Last year is for losers.

“We’ve got to get our power play together. That’s what’s been killing us.”

Said center Bernie Nicholls: “It’s been awful for us, but luckily, for us, the other teams in our division haven’t been playing a whole lot better.”

Asked to evaluate the Kings in the first quarter of the season, Coach Pat Quinn said: “It’s obvious that I’m disappointed in certain individuals and in our team play.

“But the nice thing about it is that we’re not out of it yet.”

The North Stars haven’t played much better than the Kings this season, posting a record of 5-10-5. However, they play in the weak Noris Division and are in third place.

Minnesota rookie goalie Jon Casey, called up from the minors last Wednesday, started his first game of the season against the Kings.

The Kings didn’t test Casey in the first period, taking only four shots. He finished with 25 saves.

“He (Casey) played very well,” Minnesota Coach Lorne Henning said. “He played outstanding and made some big saves.”

Said Casey: “I thought I played fairly well. The team played well in front of me, too.”

The North Stars led 2-0 at the end of the first period, outshooting the Kings, 12-4.

Center Keith Acton scored his sixth goal of the season on a breakaway with 8:32 left in the first period. Acton managed to direct the puck into the net while being tripped by King defenseman Dean Kennedy.

“It was kind of a lucky goal,” Acton said. “Willi Plett made a great backhand pass to me and I shot just before I went down.”

Left wing Tony McKegney scored his seventh goal of the season with 4:19 left in the first period on a shot that went into the net off Nicholls’ stick.

Right wing Brian Bellows made it 3-0 with 9:16 left in the second period when he scored his eighth goal of the season. King goalie Eliot was screened out of the play.

Right wing Dino Ciccarelli deflected a shot by Brian Lawton into the net with 7:09 left in the second period to give the North Stars a 4-0 lead.

The Kings finally scored against Casey with 3:10 left in the second period when Phil Sykes got his fourth goal of the season on a rebound of a shot by center Doug Smith.

Defenseman Garry Galley scored with 12:43 left in the third period on shot which was deflected into the net off Casey’s back. Casey made the save on Galley’s shot but the puck bounced high in the air and hit his back and went into the net.

“I got a piece of it with my arm,” Casey said. “But it went straight up in the air and came down behind me. I never saw it.”

The Kings, who failed to score on three power plays against Minnesota, have scored 16 power play goals in 106 attempts, 20th in the NHL.