Devils Finally Get Their Due at Forum, 6-3 : New Jersey Defeats Kings to End a 23-Game Winless Streak in L.A.

Hear the joke about the Kings: What do they and the Lakers have in common? Answer: Neither team can play hockey.

The Kings, jokes somewhat aside, have made a lot of average teams look like Stanley Cup champions this season. Even the New Jersey Devils, once called a Mickey Mouse team by Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, looked good when they faced the Kings Tuesday night.

The Kings played another horrible game, giving up five straight goals in losing, 6-3, before 7,990 booing fans at the Forum.

After the game, King Coach Pat Quinn looked down at his newly shined shoes and said: “The guy who did my shoes today had more pride in his work than those guys wearing our sweaters tonight. Frankly, they embarrassed themselves tonight.

“We figured we were going to have an easy game and we got drilled in every area. They roamed at will.”

New Jersey snapped a 23-game winless streak at the Forum. The franchise had never won here since entering the National Hockey League in 1974-75 as the Kansas City Scouts.

“It’s the end of the jinx,” said New Jersey center Aaron Broten, who scored an unassisted goal in the second period.

Said Devil Coach Doug Carpenter: “They’ve beat us in 23 games (actually, the record was 0-19-4). That’s hard to believe. I guess the law of averages are starting to add up for us.”

After taking a 1-0 lead when center Bernie Nicholls scored 32 seconds into the first period, the Kings simply stopped skating en route to their third loss in their last four games.

“We had a great first shift,” Nicholls said. “But after we got behind. We just quit.”

The Kings are 2-8-1 at home this season and have a 4-13-1 overall record. Toronto, at 3-12-3, is the only team in the NHL with a worse record this season.

Moreover, goalie Bob Janecyk now begins serving a five-game suspension for a Nov. 3 stick-swinging incident with center Peter Zezel of the Philadelphia Flyers. Janecyk won’t be back until Dec. 3 against Edmonton.

Is it time to panic? “We can’t panic yet. We’ve only played 18 games,” Nicholls said. “But we’ve got to wake up soon, that’s for sure. It will be a long year if we’re out of the playoffs by Christmas time.”

Said center Marcel Dionne, who scored his first goal in four games, on a power play with 2:43 left in the third period: “I think we’re digging a hole for ourselves. I’ll take the blame for not producing myself.”

Dionne added that the Kings look “totally confused.”

The Devils, who snapped a three-game losing streak and are 7-9-1 overall, took command after Nicholls’ goal gave the Kings a quick lead.

Peter McNab scored a power-play goal on a deflection of a shot by defenseman Dave Pichette at 7:23 of the first period to tie the score at 1-1. Left wing Doug Sulliman gave the Devils the lead when he scored off a nice pass from Kirk Muller with 6:32 left in the period.

Muller scored the Devils’ first shorthanded goal this season, at 3:12 of the second period, making it 3-1. Broten got his unassisted goal with 4:18 left in the period.

Center Mel Bridgman scored on a rebound off a three-on-one break with 38 seconds left in the second period.

Trailing, 5-1, after the first two periods, the Kings outscored the Devils, 2-1, in the third period.

King defenseman Craig Redmond scored with 5:47 left in the game to make it 5-2.

But Devil center Greg Adams scored with 4:22 left to give New Jersey a four-goal lead again, and Dionne closed out the scoring with his power-play goal on a rebound shot.

The Kings open a three-game trip Thursday night at Detroit. They play the Minnesota North Stars on Saturday and the Chicago Black Hawks on Sunday.