Kings Get Defensive, Deal North Stars a Loss

Wayne Gretzky was on the ice for the start of a game for a change, centering a new line for the Kings that seemed to work pretty well. Of course, the Kings’ offense works pretty well in just about any combination.

It was the Kings’ defense that had let the last few games get away, and it was the Kings’ goalies who had been taking all the heat.

But the defense came together Saturday night as the Kings ended their 3-game losing streak with an 8-2 victory over the Minnesota North Stars before a crowd of 13,397 at the Forum.

King goalie Glenn Healy said it was simply a question of correcting mistakes.

“We made mistakes at Calgary and Edmonton that we didn’t make tonight,” Healy said. “I’m not saying those kinds of mistakes are gone forever. We’re not invincible. But we eliminated those mistakes to win tonight.

“The guys who play in front of me are my bread and butter. They were there tonight. We kept our third man high in the zone, and we didn’t have the 2-on-1 breaks or the 3-on-1 breaks.”

The Kings weren’t giving up those breakaways. They had some of their own, though.

Gretzky, skating with Bob Carpenter and former Oiler teammate Marty McSorley instead of his former line of Carpenter and Luc Robitaille, was back in form with 2 goals.

Robitaille was on a line with center Bernie Nicholls and right wing Dave Taylor. And Mike Krushelnyski played with John Tonelli and Dale DeGray.

That was fine with everyone, as the Kings bombed 2 Minnesota goalies.

Krushelnyski scored 2 goals, and Nicholls, DeGray, Robitaille and Taylor scored a goal each.

“It was a good effort by everyone,” Coach Robbie Ftorek of the Kings said. “That comes down to our 2 goals-against. They reacted well. We had people in good position all night long. That makes it easier for our goaltenders.”

His counterpart, Pierre Page, was not at all pleased with his team.

Emerging from a 25-minute closed meeting, the North Star coach said: “We are a fragile team that can’t afford to be fragile. . . . This is the kind of effort that shows that key people must play better.

“Why some people take a night off, I have no idea. I have no idea why some people are still in our organization.”

As usual, the Kings gave up the first goal of the game. Center Dave Gagner gave the North Stars a 1-0 lead when he faked a shot from the left wing, brought Healy to the ice, then put the shot past him.

But the Kings came back with 3 goals before the first period was over. Gretzky tied it on a power play with a big slapshot from the right circle that beat Jon Casey on the glove side at 12:12. Less than a minute later, Krushelnyski skated in on Casey from the left side with North Star wing Larry DePalma all over him and made it 2-1. Nicholls gave the Kings a 2-goal edge with about 4 minutes left in the period.

The Kings went up, 4-1, with less than 3 minutes played in the second period on a 50-foot shot by DeGray.

That was the last goal the Kings would score on Casey, as he was pulled in favor of Kari Takko with 7:01 to play in the period. Casey had faced 17 shots and allowed 4 goals.

Not long after that, Tim Watters of the Kings and Dino Ciccarelli of the North Stars got tangled up behind the Kings’ net, and Watters hit Ciccarelli with a high stick as he pushed away. Watters received an automatic game misconduct, and the North Stars had a 5-minute power play that resulted in a tip-in goal by DePalma--the North Stars’ first power-play goal of the season. Until DePalma’s goal, Minnesota was 0-22 on power plays.

Gretzky scored his second goal of the night early in the third period, passing to Carpenter on a breakaway and then taking a pass back from Carpenter just in time to score on a short backhand shot. Robitaille followed up with a goal less than 2 minutes later, skating in with the defense in hot pursuit and beating Takko by scooting the puck around him and into the left corner.

With less than 6 minutes left in the game, Taylor and Krushelnyski scored goals within a 10-second span to give the Kings their 6-goal final margin.

King Notes

General Manager Rogie Vachon of the Kings spent Saturday night’s game sitting with General Manager Phil Esposito of the New York Rangers. So Vachon was asked every time he turned around if he was trying to trade for one of the Rangers’ two strong goalies, John Vanbiesbrouck or Bob Froese. Both Vachon and Esposito said no trade was imminent. Esposito said he was at the Forum simply because he was in the neighborhood, heading for a meeting Monday in Palm Springs. Esposito said he believes every team needs 2 good goalies, and he likes his. Vachon said that before the previous two games, in which King goalies gave up a total of 19 goals, “we were very pleased with our goaltenders.” He added that Mark Fitzpatrick, the 19-year-old goaltender now playing with the Kings’ New Haven, Conn., team, has been playing well.

Defenseman Tom Laidlaw missed Saturday night’s game because of a pulled hamstring suffered during the third period at Edmonton Wednesday. . . . Jim Hofford, placed on waivers by the Kings last week, was claimed by the Buffalo Sabres, who had first right of refusal because Hofford had been claimed from Buffalo in the Oct. 4 waiver draft. . . . The Kings have scored at least 6 goals in 6 of their 8 games this season.