Hapless Kings Are Beaten Again : Edmonton Oilers skate off with an 8-5 win at Forum

Last season, the Edmonton Oilers went undefeated in their first 15 games to set a league record.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are off to another perfect start this season.

The Oilers won their fifth straight game Sunday night, beating the Kings, 8-5, before 10,530 fans at the Forum.

The Oilers led, 5-3, after the first period and chased King starting goalie Bob Janecyk. Darren Eliot, Janecyk’s replacement, allowed three goals in the second period.

Trailing, 8-3, early in the third period, the Kings rallied with a pair of power-play goals. Left wing Brian MacLellan got his second goal of the game with 12:28 left and center Doug Smith scored off a pass from Paul Guay with 5:28 remaining.

The Kings, who dropped their second straight, have lost five of six games this season and are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second-worst record in the league. They have given up 36 goals this season, second-worst in the league behind the Detroit Red Wings’ 41.

Oiler center Wayne Gretzky, the NHL scoring leader for the last five seasons and the league MVP for the last six, had a power play goal and and two assists.

Rookie left wing Raimo Summanen had two goals and one assist. Defenseman Paul Coffey had two goals and two assists. Coffey had a first-period goal and added a shorthanded goal in the third period. Coffey has scored four goals and six assists in his last four gams.

Mark Messier had a power-play goal one assist. Glenn Anderson had a power-play goal and two assists. Dave Lumley scored an unassisted goal in the first period.

MacLellan led the Kings with two power play goals and one assist. Four of the Kings’ goals came on the power play. Center Bernie Nicholls, who has scored in all six of the Kings’ games this season, had a power-play goal and one two assists. Smith scored his first goal of the season on a power play. Marcel Dionne had a goal and an assist.

Janecyk started his third straight game in goal for the Kings, but looked poor and was replaced by Eliot after giving up five goals on 14 shots in the first period as the Oilers took a 5-3 lead.

“We didn’t feel that Bob was very sharp,” assistant coach Mike Murphy said in a TV interview between periods.

Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr, meanwhile, made several outstanding saves as the Kings outshot the Oilers, 19-14, in the opening period.

The Kings scored first when Dionne got his third goal of the season 1:48 into the game, but Edmonton answered with three straight goals.

The Oilers tied it at 1-1 just 32 seconds after Dionne’s goal on their first shot of the game when right wing Dave Lumley scored an unassisted goal.

Summanen then scored his first goal of the season off a pass from center Mark Messier to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

Coffey got his third goal of the season on a power play when he got a lucky bounce off Janecyk’s skate to make it 3-1 with 9:23 left in the first period. Janecyk made the save but the puck hit the boards and bounced off Janecyk’s skate and into the net.

The Kings, who were 2-25 on the power play coming into the game, scored two power play goals in four chances in the first period. Edmonton scored on two of three first-period power plays.

Left wing Brian MacLellan scored the Kings’ first power play goal of the game off a pass from center Bernie Nicholls with 7:15 left in the first period to make it 3-2. Nicholls had scored a point in all six of the Kings’ games this season.

Gretzky, who hadn’t scored a goal in his last two games, scored a power play goal with 4:39 left in the first period to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead. Gretzky backhanded a shot off the crossbar and over Janecyk’s back and into the net.

But Nicholls scored a power-play goal on a rebound of a shot by Dionne with 4:04 left to make it 4-3. Fuhr made a good stop on Dionne’s shot, but Nicholls’ follow shot went into the nets off Fuhr’s left skate.

King left wing Dave (Tiger) Williams got a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct with 1:27 left in the first period. Williams had just been given a minor penalty for hooking Oilers defenseman Kevin Lowe. Williams slammed the door to the penalty box in anger and the plexiglass fell out onto the ice. Referee Terry Gregson skated over and gave Williams an additional 10 minutes.

The Oilers got their second power play goal with 21 seconds left in the first period when right wing Glenn Anderson got his fifth goal of the season.

Eliot gave up a goal just 55 seconds into the second period when Summanen scored on a rebound of a shot by Messier for his second goal of the game.

After a slashing penalty on King defenseman Garry Galley with 2:37 left in the second period, Messier scored a power-play goal off a pass from Anderson with 2:15 left to give the Oilers a 7-3 lead going into the third period.

Kings Notes

The Oilers complained about the Forum ice at practice Sunday morning. Said King Coach Pat Quinn: “They spent $50,000 on jet ice last year and it’s worse than before.” . . . The Oilers flew to Los Angeles Saturday morning, but Edmonton Coach Glen Sather flew in Sunday. The Oilers will stay in Los Angeles until Tuesday before going to Winnipeg. . . . The Kings play the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at the Forum. Boston left wing Charlie Simmer, a former King, is the leading scorer in the NHL with eight goals and four assists in six games.