Kings, Sabres in a Major Brawl--But the Game Ends in a 4-4 Draw

It was Sunday night at the fights when the Kings played the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-4 overtime tie in a marathon hockey game game before 12,310 fans at the Forum.

There was a bench-clearing brawl with 3:53 left in the third period which resulted in 84 minutes in penalties and four players being kicked out of the game.

It was apparently triggered by a fight at center ice between a pair of heavyweights, Kings left wing Brian MacLellan (6-3, 212) and Sabres defenseman Larry Playfair (6-4, 220). MacLellan appeared to get the best of Playfair.

“I’m not really sure what started it,” Playfair said. “Things were getting a little out of hand toward the end of the game. I guess we were both frustrated.”

Said MacLellan: “They were picking on our guys all night long. I don’t get in many fights. Maybe only three or four a year. It’s not the kind of game I want to play. We’ve had minor problems during the year, when we were losing, but there was a lot of individual stuff going on. Something like this can bring the team together. You’ve got to stick up for each other.”

Both goalies, Buffalo’s Tom Barrasso (6-3, 195) and the Kings’ Bob Janecyk skated out of their creases to join the action and were ejected from the game. Darren Eliot went into the game for the Kings and Bob Sauve finished the game in the nets for the Sabres.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” Janecyk said. “The benches cleared and everyone went grabbing for someone. Darren (Eliot) was along the boards helping (defenseman Garry) Galley and Barrasso made a bee line over to them. When I went over there he gave me a backhand.

“They thought they could shove us around in the third period, but it’s going to go around the league now that the Kings are no easy pansies.”

After things had settled down, Buffalo right wing Mike Foligno gave an obscene gesture to fans who were seated behind the bench.

It took referee Bryan Lewis 15 minutes to sort things out. Playfair got five minutes for fighting, Barrasso received two minutes for leaving the crease, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute game misconduct. Foligno got a fighting penalty and a double (20-minute) game misconduct .

MacLellan got five minutes for fighting. Janecyk got two minutes for leaving the crease, five for fighting and a 10-minute game misconduct. Galley received five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute game misconduct.

Asked about the officiating, Kings Coach Pat Quinn said: “How can you comment on anything like that? All you do is make enemies and you hurt your team.”

Said Buffalo Coach Scotty Bowman: “I don’t know what caused it. . . . I don’t have anything to say (about the officiating).”

The Kings led 2-0 after the first period, scoring twice on their first three shots on goals by Marcel Dionne and Brian Engblom.

But the Sabres scored four straight goals--one in the second period and three in the third--to take a 4-2 lead.

However, the Kings got goals from Dave Taylor and Dionne to tie the game.

The Kings (30-26-12) need just three points to clinch their first NHL playoff berth in three years. They are four points behind the third-place Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division.

Buffalo (32-21-13) is two points behind the first-place Montreal Canadiens in the Adams Division.

Trailing 2-1 going into the final period after center John Tucker scored at 8:25 of the second period, the Sabres scored three times in the first 3 minutes and 50 seconds of the third period to take a two-goal lead.

Jim Schoenfield hit the boards in back of the net on a slapshot and the puck came out to right wing Ric Seiling in front of the net. Janecyk dove to get the loose puck, but Seiling beat him to it and scored his 12th goal of the season to tie the score at 2-2 just 23 seconds into the final period.

Center Bob Mongrain gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead when he scored his first goal of the season with 17:30 left in the third period. Mongrain played in Sweden this season, but joined the Sabres recently after his contract ran out in Europe.

Left wing Paul Cyr gave the Sabres a two-goal lead when he scored his 19th goal of the season with 16:10 left in the third period.

But Taylor cut the score to 4-3 with 8:53 left when he jammed the puck inside the right post past Sabres goalie Tom Barrasso.

Dionne tied it at 4-4 with 4:30 left when he scored his second goal of the game off a pass from MacLellan.

“I could have shot, but I saw Marcel and tried to get the goalie to commit himself, which he did. Then Marcel had the open net and he put it in.”

There were three fights in the third period before the main event.

The first matched Kings center Bernie Nicholls against Brent Peterson of the Sabres.

Cyr and Kings center Bob Miller went at it with 10:33 left in the third period, and Kings center Doug Smith and Sean McKenna battled it out with 8:22 left.

There was also a pretty good fight between a couple of fans in the stands with seven minutes left in the game.