Homecoming Kings See Quebec Rain on Their Parade, 5-2

The Kings looked as if they were ready to move up in the Smythe Division after they won the last three games of a four-game trip to the East and came home Monday tied for second place with Winnipeg and Calgary.

However, the Kings didn’t stay in second place for long.

The Winnipeg Jets routed the New York Rangers Monday night to move into second alone.

The Kings were tied for third with the Calgary Flames going into Wednesday night’s game against the Quebec Nordiques.

But the Kings, not looking like a team in a playoff race, dropped a 5-2 decision in front of 11,719 fans at the Forum.

The loss dropped the Kings (28-24-11) into fourth place, two points behind Calgary, which beat the New York Islanders, and four points behind the Winnipeg, which beat Pittsburgh. The Kings play the Flames Sunday night at Calgary.

King Coach Pat Quinn, who praised the team after Sunday night’s 4-2 win at Buffalo, ripped them after their flat game against Quebec.

“I don’t have many nice things to say,” Quinn said. “I guess we were too busy reading our press clippings about how good we were.

“We played like we didn’t have to work and everything would just fall into place for us. It’s my responsibility. We’re in a battle for second place, and my team wasn’t ready.

“To simplify it. Our team did not come to play. We got outhit and we didn’t cover the net. As good as I felt about this team coming home off the road, I feel just as rotten now.”

Quebec (31-24-8), which has won five of its last six games, moved into a second-place tie with Buffalo in the Adams Division. The Nordiques trail Montreal by just four points.

Against the Kings, Quebec Coach Michel Bergeron used center Dale Hunter on a line with Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet, and the line had a big night. Hunter led the Nordiques with one goal and three assists. Stastny, one of three hockey playing brothers from Czechoslovakia, had one goal and two assists. Goulet scored the Nordiques’ final goal.

“Peter and Michel are the best two hockey players on the team, and it makes it easy to get four points with them playing with you,” Hunter said. “I get more chances because they have to pay more attention to them (Goulet and Stastny), and if they double-team one of them, it leaves me wide open, and all I have to do is put it into the net.”

Said Bergeron: “Dale Hunter works really hard for us. He’s the grinder on that line. Peter and Goulet are the talent, and the combo works.

“I’m really happy to see that line playing so well with the playoffs just a month away.”

The Kings are probably glad they don’t play the Nordiques any more this season. Quebec won two of three games from them this season.

In a game against the Kings last Tuesday night at Quebec, the Nordiques overcame a 5-3 first-period deficit to win, 7-6.

Wednesday night, they held the Kings scoreless in the first two periods, gaining a 2-0 lead off first-period goals by defenseman Randy Moller and right wing Wilf Paiement and getting good goaltending by Dan Bouchard, who had 26 saves in the game.

After being blanked for the first two periods, the Kings came alive in the third, outshooting the Nordiques, 13-7, and cutting the deficit to 2-1 with 11:24 left when defenseman Mark Hardy scored on a power play off a pass from Dave Taylor.

The Nordiques had a chance to go ahead, 3-1, with 10:30 left, but Paiement hit the right post on a shot from in close.

However, the Nordiques went up by two goals with 9:03 left when Peter Stastny scored his 29th goal of the season.

The Nordiques then made it 4-1, scoring off a two-on-one break with 5:06 left in the third period when Hunter scored off a pass from Stastny.

The Kings had a power play immediately afterward when Quebec defenseman Pat Price was penalized for using an illegal stick. The Kings pulled goalie Bob Janecyk for an extra skater.

The move paid off when left wing Brian MacLellan scored with 2:13 left in the third period to close the score to 4-2.

But Goulet scored his 42nd goal with 1:34 left in the third period to seal the Nordiques’ victory.

King Notes

King General Manager Rogie Vachon has signed veteran defenseman Al Sims to a contract as insurance for the playoffs. Sims, 31, had been playing in Switzerland and West Germany this season. He will report to New Haven to begin conditioning. . . . The Kings play Friday night at Edmonton before heading to Calgary. . . . The last time the Kings were five games above .500 was on the final day of the 1980-81 season when Bob Berry was the coach. They completed that season with a 43-24-13 record and finished second in the Norris Division. The Kings were shifted to the Smythe Division the following season.