Fogolin, of All People, Scores Overtime Goal to Defeat Kings, 3-2

Bob Janecyk, the Kings’ goalie, can’t play much better than he did against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night in the first game of their Smythe Division semifinal playoff series.

For his first National Hockey League playoff game, Janecyk, a 27-year-old rookie, drew a tough assignment: Stop the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Janecyk held his own against Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and the Oilers, giving up two goals in three periods, and the Kings sent the game into overtime when Bernie Nicholls scored the tying goal with 4:37 left in the third period.

But Oiler defenseman Lee Fogolin beat Janecyk on something of a fluke goal just 3:01 into the sudden-death overtime period to give the Oilers a 3-2 win before 17,267 fans at the Northlands Coliseum.

The second game of the best-of-five series will be played here tonight (Channel 9, 6:30), then the series shifts to the Forum Saturday night. The Kings have to win three of four games if they want to win the series.

Fogolin took a pass from Kevin Lowe from a tough angle at the right side and directed a shot into the net off Janecyk’s stick.

Fogolin, an unlikely hero, was mobbed by his teammates. He scored just four goals during the regular season, and it was only the third playoff goal he had scored in his 11-year career.

Fogolin said he didn’t know he’d scored until the red light behind the goal went on.

“I was just directing it at the net,” Fogolin said. “And I didn’t see it go in. The light just went on.”

Janecyk said: “Lowe was breaking in from the point on my left. He threw it straight across, and I thought I could get to him and intercept it. It hit my stick and bounced into the net.

“We played well enough to win, but the breaks went against us. By no means did we embarrass ourselves. One little break and this game would have been ours.”

The Kings did a good job of stopping Gretzky, who won his fifth straight NHL scoring title this season. Gretzky, who said Janecyk played “probably the best I’ve seen a goaltender play this year,” didn’t have a shot on goal in the first two periods. He finished the night with three shots. He had no goals and one assist.

The Kings used right wing Phil Sykes to shadow Gretzky.

“I can take two or three people out of a play if they are on me and open it up for other guys,” Gretzky said. “When a guy skates beside you all night, you don’t get many chances. When you do get chances you have to put them in the net. I didn’t take advantage of it. He played a basically physical game, but that’s what I expected.”

Sykes stayed as close to Gretzky as the white glove is to Michael Jackson. He tripped Gretzky in back of the King net with 9:41 left in the first period, but the officials didn’t see it.

But during the first period, when Sykes skated off the ice, Gretzky set up the Oilers’ first goal. He gave right wing Jari Kurri a beautiful pass in the right faceoff circle, and Kurri beat Janecyk to his glove side on a wrist shot with 5:41 left in the period. Kurri, who missed four games when he fractured the little finger on his left hand on March 28 in a game against Boston, was playing with a special cast to protect the injury.

The Kings, trailing, 2-1, after a second-period goal by defenseman Paul Coffey, came back to send the game into sudden-death overtime. Three of the other seven playoff games Wednesday night also went into overtime.

The Kings tied the score at 2-2 with 4:37 left in the third period when Nicholls beat Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr on a shot from about 20 feet away.

Right wing Jim Fox set up the goal when he dug the puck out of the corner and passed it to Nicholls in the slot.

Earlier in the third period, Nicholls, a noted hockey pacifist, spent seven minutes in the penalty box after a fight with Oiler defenseman Larry Melnyk.

The Kings had a power play with 17:05 left in the third period after Dave Hunter gave Nicholls a shot in the head with his left arm. Hunter got two minutes for roughing.

But just eight seconds into the power play Nicholls got into a fight with Melnyk at center ice near the benches. The officials had the two players pinned against the boards, but Nicholls managed to land a couple of punches. Melnyk had a nasty cut above is right eye. Nicholls got five minutes for fighting and a two-minute minor for cross checking.

Although the game had an exciting ending, the first period was about as interesting as watching snow melt.

The score was tied at 1-1 at the end of the first period. Both teams had 15 shots apiece in the first 20 minutes.

With the Kings trailing 1-0 after Gretzky set up Kurri’s goal, rookie defenseman Craig Redmond, who had scored just six goals in 79 regular season games, broke an eight-game slump when he took a pass from center Bob Miller and scored on a slap shot from the blue line with 3:52 left in the first period.

“Phil Sykes screened out Fuhr,” Redmond said. “He (Fuhr) never saw it coming.”

The Oilers took a one-goal lead lead with 6:41 left in the second period when Coffey scored on a good individual play.

Coffey took a pass from Charlie Huddy in his own zone and skated almost the length of the ice. Coffey put a good move on rookie King defenseman Ken Hammond at the blue line, skating around him as if he weren’t there. Hammond looked like a college player, which he was until he joined the Kings two weeks ago after leading RPI to the NCAA title. Janecyk came out of the net, and Coffey beat him on a shot from eight feet away. Coffey said something to Janecyk afterward.

The Kings had just five shots in the second period. Their best scoring chance came with 9:41 left in the period when they had a two-on-one with Doug Smith and Redmond. Fuhr had fallen down on the play, but he just managed to get a piece of the puck.

The Kings almost gave up a goal on their second power play of the game when Mark Messier took the puck away from defenseman Mark Hardy and skated in on Janecyk alone. But Messier didn’t use any fakes on the play and Janecyk made a pad save.

King Notes King goalie coach Phil Myre was asked to leave an Oilers practice Tuesday afternoon. The Kings retaliated by barring Edmonton reporters from their practice session later that day. . . . Myre was behind the bench during the game along with head Coach Pat Quinn, the first time this season that the Kings have had two coaches behind the bench. Myre was wearing a headset so he could communicate with assistant coach Mike Murphy in the press box. . . . Wednesday’s game was 231 short of a sellout. . . . Several Kings players attended a concert by the rock group Chicago Tuesday night at the Northlands Coliseum