McNall Message Loud, Clear; Kings Awaken, Batter Red Wings, 9-4

The Kings may be deficient in a lot of areas these days, but there’s obviously nothing wrong with their ears.

The message delivered publicly by team owner Bruce McNall Tuesday night got through loud and clear.

Stung by criticism from McNall and inundated with trade rumors, the Kings took their frustrations out on the Detroit Red Wings Thursday night, beating them, 9-4, before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum.

“The tension,” said King Coach Tom Webster, “was pretty thick yesterday and today.”

Particularly for Bernie Nicholls and Luc Robitaille, both of whom have been mentioned prominently in the trade whispers.

And both responded on the ice.

“I can’t think about it,” said Robitaille, who scored his 34th and 35th goals, “since I’m not the one who is going to make a trade. I know if I work hard and they trade me, it won’t be my fault. I would hate to leave here. But as long as I work hard, I can sleep at night.

“Nobody wants to get traded. Everyone likes to play here. This (trade talk) is no fun.”

The same sentiments were expressed by Nicholls, who said a talk with a friend before the game soothed his nerves. He had three assists.

“I’m kind of fond of this place,” Nicholls said. “I’d like to stay here. But I don’t think it should take trade talk to get you to play hard.”

Even in victory, the Kings continued to play in a way that has gotten them in so much trouble, both with their owner and opposing teams. Maligned for their defense, the Kings led Detroit, 5-1, after one period, then let the Red Wings back in the game. Over their last eight games, the Kings have given up 37 goals, a average of nearly five a game.

Wayne Gretzky, assuming leadership in this crisis, ignited Thursday’s offense with a goal just 50 seconds into the game.

Before it was over, Gretzky scored his 26th and 27th goalsand had four assists. Defenseman Larry Robinson also had three assists.

While it was a night worth celebrating, this was hardly a victory over the Stanley Cup champions. Detroit, last in the Norris Division at 16-25-6, has lost five of its last six games on the road and is 0-8-1 in its last nine away from home.

But the Kings, with dismal numbers to match the worst of teams recently, will take a victory where they find it these days. This was only only their first since New Year’s Day. Since then, they had gone 0-6-1. They also had only two ties to show for their last six games at home and had fallen below .500 at 20-21-5 for the season before Thursday’s victory.

All this had prompted McNall’s outburst Tuesday night. After the game, he threatened to make some big moves, if necessary, to shake up the team.

McNall backed off a bit Thursday.

“All that’s happened so far is that we’ve gotten a million phone calls,” he said before the game. “There have been lots of talks, but I’ve seen nothing that I’m that interested in. I haven’t seen anything I’m prepared to do.

“When somebody knows you’re anxious to make a deal, sometimes they try to steal something. I’m not going to trade just to trade.”

McNall went public with his criticism after Tuesday night’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres. That resulted in a whirlwind of trade rumors, the most prominent naming Nicholls and Robitaille. One New York paper reported a deal with the New York Rangers for Nicholls was imminent.

While McNall isn’t ruling anything out, he didn’t give the impression of man operating out of desperation or anger.

“I’m not angry,” he said, “just disappointed. Maybe complacency set in. We have a tremendous amount of talent.

“Maybe just the threat will make them (the players) come to the realization they have to make something happen. If not, we’ll have to take some of these calls seriously. But so far, I haven’t had an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

McNall also said all of the calls have been incoming.

“We haven’t made any calls,” he said. “And we’re not picking out a player and saying this is a player we want to move. If we were winning, we might not even listen to these calls. Now, we’re listening.”

So were the Kings.

Gretzky’s game-opening goal came on a shot from the right circle. He took one shot, which was blocked by goalie Glen Hanlon.

The puck came back to Gretzky, who fired from nearly the same spot and scored, extending his point-scoring streak to 14 games.

Mike Krushelnyski also scored two goals. The other Kings goals were scored by Jay Miller, Steve Duchesne and Mikko Makela.

Former King Jimmy Carson scored one of Detroit’s goals, the others going to Greg Adams, Daniel Shank and Marc Habscheid.

Asked if the players, after listening to all the public talk about their problems, had discussed them among themselves, goalie Kelly Hrudey replied: “Do we have to? We know the situation we’re in. We are not a bunch of dummies. If we don’t play well, a lot of us won’t be here.”

While he wouldn’t talk about any specific trades, McNall was intrigued with one suggestion.

Had he thought, he was asked, about swapping his close friend and hockey devotee, comedian John Candy, to the Lakers for their good-luck charm, Jack Nicholson?

“Now that ,” McNall said, “I’m interested in.”

King Notes

King General Manager Rogie Vachon is not planning on attending this weekend’s All-Star game in Pittsburgh where officials from throughout the league will be on hand. McNall will attend . . . Mikko Makela’s goal was the 100th of his career.