A Knee-Jerk Reaction Lifts Kings to Win

The Kings beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-3, Thursday night at the Meadowlands Arena--and they did it with the help of a controversial goal.

With 3:50 left in the second period and the score tied, 3-3, right wing Jim Fox appeared to kick a shot by defenseman Brian Engblom into the net. Referee Ron Fournier allowed the goal, ruling that the puck bounced off Fox’s knee and was not deliberately directed into the net.

“I went to the net and I was turning the other way,” Fox said. “The puck hit me and went in. It might have been a reflex, but I didn’t intentionally kick it in.”

Chico Resch, the New Jersey goalie, immediately rushed over to Fournier to protest. A replay of the goal was shown twice on two large TV screens suspended above the arena.

On the play, Resch blocked a shot by Engblom, but the puck bounced out of the goalie’s glove and went right at Fox, who was standing in front of the net. The puck appeared to go in off Fox’s knee.

“He (Engblom) got it up high and hit me on the palm of my glove, where it’s harder to control,” Resch said. “It then bounced off his (Fox’s) knee and into the net. He guided it in with his knee, but the ref (Fournier) said that he was not convinced enough that he deliberately guided it in enough to call off the goal.”

However, Resch refused to blame the loss on the tiebreaking goal. “We were not playing smart,” he said. “We failed to play good defense. When we put scoring ahead of defense, we usually don’t do too good.”

Resch also confronted Fournier in the hallway leading to the officials’ locker room after the game.

“I did a lot of screaming and yelling, but I didn’t make a lot of sense,” Resch said.

New Jersey Coach Doug Carpenter downplayed the controversy, saying: “I don’t think there was a dispute. I didn’t see it, but as long as he (Fox) didn’t intentionally kick it into the net, it’s a goal.”

Fox’s goal helped the Kings win their first National Hockey League game in New Jersey. Until Thursday night’s victory, the Kings were winless in the three games they had played at the Meadowlands since the Devils moved here from Colorado.

Some of the controversy over Fox’s goal subsided when left wing Brian MacLellan added another goal at 7:59 of the third period. MacLellan scored off a rebound of a shot by Garry Galley.

The Kings, who blew a 5-3 lead Tuesday night at Quebec and lost, 7-6, this time managed to stay ahead.

“We’re a funny team,” center Marcel Dionne said. “When we should win, we lose, and when we should lose, we win. But New Jersey doesn’t have sharpshooters like Quebec.”

Said Coach Pat Quinn: “We don’t seem to have that much trouble with the close games. It’s when we get three- and four-goal leads that we get negligent. We were dreadful Tuesday night. So, this was an important game for us.

“But we finally managed to catch a team that had to fly all night to play a hockey game (the Devils played at Vancouver Tuesday night and came back the following day). Most times, we have to fly all night and play the next day.”

The Kings took a 1-0 lead with nine minutes left in the first period when Terry Ruskowski scored his 14th goal of the season, beating Resch on a breakaway.

But Devil right wing Jan Ludvig scored consecutive goals to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. Ludvig scored his first with 6:50 left in the first period and then added a power-play goal with 12:43 left in the second period.

However, King right wing Dave Taylor tied it at 2-2 with 10:32 left in the second period when he took a pass from MacLellan and put a shot between two New Jersey defensemen.

Center Bernie Nicholls scored a power-play goal with 6:08 left in the second period to put the Kings up, 3-2, after the Kings had worked the puck around the ice.

But the Devils tied it at 3-3 with 5:29 left in the second period when left wing Rocky Trottier scored off a two-on-one break.

King Notes Devil defenseman Dave Lewis, a former King, missed the game with a separated shoulder suffered in Tuesday night’s 7-5 loss at Vancouver. . . . The Kings play at Hartford, Conn., against the Whalers Saturday night. . . . The Kings swept the three-game season series from New Jersey. The win moved the Kings (26-23-11) within two points of the third-place Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division. . . . The Devils (18-32-8) are three points behind the fourth-place New York Rangers in the Patrick Division.