After 9-0 Loss, a 4-4 Tie Looks Good to Kings : L.A. and Black Hawks Repeat Last Sunday’s Outcome, This Time at Forum

The Kings, who looked dreadful in a 9-0 loss to the Hartford Whalers Wednesday night, played a lot better against the Chicago Black Hawks Saturday night. They came from behind for a 4-4 tie on a goal by defenseman Jay Wells with 9:43 left in the third period before 12,136 fans at the Forum.

With the Black Hawks leading, 4-3, Wells scored on a backhander that rolled into the net under the arm of Chicago goalie Murray Bannerman. The goal was originally credited to right wing Phil Sykes, but Sykes went to the officials after a scoreless overtime period and said that Wells had scored.

It was Wells’ sixth goal of the season, his career high. His previous best was five goals in 72 games in 1980-81.

“After a game like the Hartford game, it’s nice to come out and play a good, solid game,” Wells said.

Sykes scored the game-tying goal in the third period of a 4-4 tie with the Black Hawks in Chicago last Sunday.

Sykes had an unassisted goal in the second period Saturday night, giving the Kings a 3-2 lead. But the Black Hawks went ahead on successive goals by Ed Olczyk and Denis Savard.

The Kings disputed Olczyk’s tying goal at 15:08 of the second period, claiming that it never crossed the line.

“The goal judge was trigger-happy,” King goalie Darren Eliot said. “He turned on the light too soon. The puck never went over the line. I had it in my glove before it went over.”

Said Olczyk: “It was a four-on-four situation, with Troy Murray coming in. (Jerome) Dupont let a shot fly, and I followed up. Eliot made a play on it, and it went over the line, and he (Eliot) went in after it.”

Eliot also made saves with nine seconds left in overtime on shots by Steve Larmer and Al Secord to preserve the tie.

“We worked hard all night long but we probably didn’t get what we deserved,” King Coach Pat Quinn said. “It was a step forward, but we’ve made progress before and fallen back.

“Darren played well. He made a nice save in overtime to preserve the tie. But their third goal never went into the net.”

Said Chicago Coach Bob Pulford: “We didn’t play very well. We knew that after the beating the Kings took in their last game, they would give a good effort tonight.”

King center Marcel Dionne scored two power-play goals in the second period. It was the first time this season that a King has scored two power-play goals in a game.

Savard led Chicago with a power-play goal and two assists.

The Kings (5-15-3) are winless in their last four games, while Chicago (9-10-4) is unbeaten in its last six. The Black Hawks are in second place in the Norris Division, one point behind the St. Louis Blues.

The Black Hawks scored on their third power play of the game after King left wing Dave (Tiger) Williams was penalized for elbowing Chicago defenseman Jack O’Callahan with 5:49 left in the first period.

Secord scored his ninth goal of the season with 5:29 left. Secord was trying to pass to Savard in the slot, but the puck hit the skate of King defenseman Brian Engblom, who was in front of Savard, and went into the net.

Dionne scored consecutive power-play goals at 4:43 and 7:06 of the second period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead.

“Marcel had that jump in his legs tonight,” Quinn said.

But Chicago scored just 48 seconds after Dionne’s second goal to tie the score. Larmer took a pass from Savard and drilled a shot into the far corner of the net at 7:54.

Sykes scored his unassisted goal at 10:46 of the second period to break the 2-2 tie.

“Sykes as been our top player for us for some time,” Quinn said. “He’s had a lot of big goals.”

But the Black Hawks scored two goals to take the lead.

With the teams skating four-on-four after penalties to Chicago’s Bob Murray and Dionne, Olczyk scored his disputed goal off a pass from Murray with 4:52 left in the second period to tie it at 3-3.

The Black Hawks scored a power-play goal less than a minute later to take a 4-3 lead. With seven seconds left in an interference penalty on Dionne, Savard re-directed a pass from Larmer into the net for his 13th goal of the season.

King Notes Owner Jerry Buss said that Coach Pat Quinn and General Manager Rogie Vachon are not in danger of being fired because of the Kings’ slow start this season. “We’ve got a great coach and a great general manager,” Buss said Friday night. “I have a lot of confidence that they’ll get it straightened out by the end of the year, and that’s when it counts.” . . . Vachon denied a report out of Minnesota that he’s about to make a deal with the Minnesota North Stars. The North Stars were said to be ready to trade three players for a King defenseman, either Mark Hardy, who has not played this season because of a wrist injury, or Jay Wells. . . . The Kings close out the home stand Tuesday night against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers at the Forum. The Kings played the Oilers to a 4-4 overtime tie in their last game on Nov. 6 at the Forum. In that game, Oiler star Wayne Gretzky was knocked to the ice by Dave Taylor.