Kings Booed as They Lose to Flames, 9-2 : Loss Before Crowd of 7,279 Is Team’s Worst Home Defeat Since 1979 By

The Kings, who opened the 1984-85 season by going winless in their first nine games (0-6-3), are off to another awful start this season.

The Kings lost their third game in as many starts this season, when the injury-plagued Calgary Flames embarrassed them, 9-2, Sunday night before 7,279 booing fans at the Forum.

The Flames were without five of their top scorers because of injuries, but they had no trouble scoring against the Kings.

Center Doug Risebrough scored two goals and had two assists to lead the Flames, who are unbeaten in two games this season.

Rookie defenseman Gary Suter scored his first two NHL goals on a pair of power plays. He also had one assist.

“The puck was bouncing for us,” Suter said.

Left wing Gino Cavallini had a power-play goal and two assists. Left wing Richard Kromm had one goal and one assist. Right wing Colin Patterson had one goal and two assists. Center Joel Otto and defenseman Charlie Bourgeois also scored for the Flames.

“It was like a snowball rolling downhill and we couldn’t stop it,” King defenseman Brian Engblom said.

It was the Kings’ worst defeat at home since an 8-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 13, 1979.

“We just plain took a whuppin tonight and we were happy with it,” Kings Coach Pat Quinn said. “There are no excuses. What do you say after something like that.”

Said King captain Dave Taylor: “Tonight we ran into a real good hockey team, and they gave us a lesson. We haven’t played up to our capabilities yet.

“We’ve got to do some soul searching. But it isn’t time to panic. We’ve still got 77 games to go. The only thing we can do is to keep working hard.”

Trailing 6-2, the Kings gave up three goals in the final period.

King General Manager Rogie Vachon, who watched the third period from his office, and Quinn have been holding meetings into the early morning after every game this season to assess the club.

Asked what’s wrong with the Kings, Quinn said. “Quite honestly, I’d like to go into the room and ask them (the players). The first person I’m going to check with is me.

“There are a number of things we haven’t done. We haven’t sustained our forechecking. In the first two games, we played two bad periods of hockey. Tonight, we only had five minutes of decent play.

“We’ll start tomorrow morning at practice to see if we can get some cohesiveness into our play.”

A few things wrong with the Kings:

--Power plays. They were scoreless in 12 power plays in their first two games. They ended the streak at 17 when Dave (Tiger) Williams scored a power-play goal in the second period. The Kings were 1-6 on the power play against the Flames. They have scored just one power-play goal in 18 chances in three games.

“Our guys are frustrated, and the frustration has taken control of their minds,” Quinn said.

Calgary goalie Reggie Lemelin made the following observation on the Kings’ power play: “They’re lacking concentration, that’s about it. I remember last year they had one of the best power plays in the league. They just seem to be rushing some of their shots.”

--Defense. The Kings’ defense has been horrible, giving up 20 goals in three games. And things don’t figure to get any better with veteran defenseman Mark Hardy set go undergo surgery on his right wrist next week. Hardy is expected to be out six weeks.

“He’s one of our grit people and you don’t replace him easily,” Quinn said.

They have collapsed in the second period of all three games. The Kings have been outscored, 10-4, in the second periods of their three games. Sunday, the Flames outscored the Kings, 4-2, in the second period to put the game away.

Quinn also said that the Kings are having trouble blending the seven new players into the team. Only one line is unchanged from last year, center Marcel Dionne, right wing Taylor and left wing Brian MacLellan. And Quinn chose to sit out the Dionne line for the last 10 minutes of Sunday’s game because they were tired.

“We have three brand-new lines this year and they’re not functioning well together,” Quinn said.

The Flames left five players in Calgary and had to shuffle their lines for the game. Defenseman Paul Reinhart and right wing Hakan Loob are out with back spasms. Center Mike Eaves is out indefinitely after suffering a concussion. Center Carey Wilson will miss a week to 10 days with a shoulder injury. And left wing Eddy Beers injured his big toe when he was hit in the foot by a puck.

“We only brought 20 guys down and they all played well,” Calgary Coach (Badger) Bob Johnson said. “I was worried because I didn’t think we had enough fire power, but we got a good game from everybody.”