Kings Gain Tie, but Lose Berg

DALLAS —  King Coach Larry Robinson wore a distressed expression in the corridor outside the dressing room after his team tied the Dallas Stars, 4-4.

And, surprise, it had absolutely nothing to do with the officiating or the pregame decision of his former Montreal teammate Bob Gainey to step down as the Stars coach and remain as general manager.

Once again, this was a case of another game, another injured defenseman. In the last four days, the Kings have watched three defensemen go down because of injury--Rob Cowie, Marty McSorley and now rookie Aki Berg.

Berg was injured late in the second period Monday at Reunion Arena, suffering a sprained left shoulder after a collision with right wing Todd Harvey in the corner. He was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary X-rays but there was no fracture.

“I’m just really worried about Aki,” Robinson said. “He’s been playing so well. It’s a very mild sprain but we’ll see what happens in the next couple of days.”

It was that sort of night for the Kings (16-16-10) as they tied the Stars for the third consecutive time this season. Dallas has outshot the Kings, 134-84, in those three games. So in some respects, it was a good tie. Not so good in other areas, considering two key Stars, Dave Gagner and Greg Adams, were out of the lineup because of injuries suffered Sunday in Chicago.

“We’ll take the point and get out of Dallas,” said King goaltender Byron Dafoe, who faced a relatively light night of 35 shots.

Another player, however, was disgusted by giving up a third-period and game-tying goal by defenseman Kevin Hatcher with only 7:41 remaining, shortly after King forward Kevin Todd’s goal made it 4-3, pointing out the slender lead lasted only 58 seconds.

Dallas, perhaps buoyed by the coaching change, came out strong even though it played Sunday, outshooting the Kings, 10-0, in the first 10 minutes. Although Ken Hitchcock of the Kalamazoo Wings of the International Hockey League will replace Gainey, assistants Rick Wilson and Doug Jarvis coached Monday.

Gainey, who had been one of three men to hold the dual jobs of GM and coach in the NHL, announced his decision to step down about an hour before the game. He was hired as coach in 1990, back when the Stars were in Minnesota.

“This was my decision completely,” he said. “I really felt our team was underperforming. We still have a large chunk of our season to reattack our goals.”

Said Robinson: “I’m sure it’s been in the back of his mind for awhile. In today’s hockey, it’s a big enough job without having to be both coach and GM.”

Forty two games have more than convinced Robinson, who remains frustrated by the Kings’ inconsistency. “On the road, a tie is not that bad, but we didn’t play as well as we could,” he said. “The whole game was of fits and starts. Night in and night out, they still seem to feel, they’ll score goals by passing the puck.”

Scoring for the Kings were defenseman John Slaney (second), Tony Granato (16th), defenseman Philippe Boucher (fourth) and Todd (11th). All four of Boucher’s goals have come on the power play. Wayne Gretzky had two assists, giving him 12 points in four games.

Gretzky helped set up Granato’s goal, at 15:09 of the first, on a clever play as he left a drop pass for Rick Tocchet, who left yet another drop pass for Granato, who promptly beat the Stars’ rookie goaltender Manny Fernandez with a shot to the stick side.

In overtime, Gretzky nearly won it with less than two minutes remaining, hitting the left post with a blast from the right wing. Seconds earlier, Dafoe denied Star center Guy Carbonneau by double-stacking his pads as Carbonneau was driving to the net.

“It’s a Catch-22,” Gretzky said. “We’re playing well but I think we should be playing better. We haven’t been blown out and every night we have the opportunity to win. A couple of breaks and we could be two, three games over .500.”

King Notes

Wayne Gretzky was named the NHL’s player of the week--the second time he has earned that distinction this season. In three games, he scored three goals and had 10 points. Defenseman Rob Cowie, injured Friday in San Jose, is with the team on this trip but sat out against the Stars because of a strained left shoulder.