Kings Blasted First by Penguins, Then by Coach : Quinn Blames ‘Prima Donna’ Defense for the Team’s 7-3 Loss in Pittsburgh

The Kings started goaltender Roland Melanson in the nets against the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night.

What they forgot to start was a defense in front of Melanson.

The result was predictable--a 7-3 victory for the Penguins before 12,090 fans at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena.

A furious King Coach Pat Quinn later blasted what, for want of a better word, he called his defense.

“He never stood a chance,” Quinn said of Melanson. “We had five statues in front of him. You’re talking to a guy that’s sick, sick of this. . . . We had a bunch of prima donnas on defense. They should be acting instead of playing hockey. They think they can put on the uniforms and do nothing.

“They were terrible. If one of your defensemen is going bad, you can put him on the bench, but this was ridiculous.”

Melanson, acquired last month in a trade with the New York Rangers, had not played since Nov. 19 because of a groin injury. He allowed four power-play goals, including three in the second period, as the Kings saw their two-game winning streak snapped. They are 12-23-4, while the Penguins improved to 18-19-4.

The Kings fell behind, 5-1, before scoring twice late in the second period. But the Penguins added two more goals in the final two minutes of the game, including an empty-net goal.

“I don’t feel I was that far off my game,” Melanson said. “I hadn’t played in an NHL game in almost two months, but I can’t use that as an excuse.”

The Kings pulled Melanson for an extra skater with 1:47 remaining in the game, and Penguin left wing Dave Hannan scored an unassisted empty-net goal with 1:33 left.

Melanson came back into the game and gave up another power-play goal with 25 seconds left as Pittsburgh center Mike Bullard scored his second goal of the game. Both of Bullard’s goal came on the power-play. Bullard also had one assist.

“It looked like our power play was terrible in our last game, but we worked on it a lot in practice the last few days,” Bullard said. “I don’t think Rollie played that badly. He was making some good saves but he didn’t have a chance on some of the goals.”

Left wing Terry Ruskowski, a former King captain who signed with the Penguins as a free agent last summer, had one goal and one assist.

“It was nice to have that kind of game against your old team,” Ruskowski said. “I wanted to prove a point, that maybe they made a mistake by not signing me.”

Pittsburgh center Mario Lemieux, who Tuesday signed a five-year contract that will make him the second-highest-paid player in hockey behind Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, had three assists.

Rookie defenseman Chris Dahlquist of the Penguins scored his first NHL goal 39 seconds into the game. Dahlquist took a hard shot from the slot and Melanson made a pad save, but the puck came out and hit Ruskowski’s skate in front of the net and Dahlquist tapped it in.

King center Bernie Nicholls tied the score at 1-1 with his 20th goal of the season with 32 seconds left in the first period. Right wing Jim Fox, playing in his first game after sitting 27 games with a back injury, got an assist on Nicholls’ goal, along with left wing J.P. Kelly.

The Kings did not have a shot in the first 8 minutes 57 seconds of the game.

The Penguins scored four consecutive second-period goals to take command of the game.

The Kings were penalized for leaving the bench too soon at the end of the first period, giving the Penguins a power play at the start of the second. Bullard scored on a shot from the right circle to reclaim the lead for Pittsburgh.

Right wing Doug Shedden made it 3-1 on another power-play goal off a pass from Bullard with 8:15 left and Ruskowski added the fourth less than a minute later, this one, his 14th goal of the season, coming on a wrist shot off a pass from Lemieux.

Defenseman Moe Mantha scored a power-play goal on a shot from the blue line with 4:20 left in the period to improve the Penguins’ lead to 5-1.

The Kings cut the margin to 5-3 with two goals in the final 24 seconds of the second period by Bryan Erickson and Anders Hakansson, respectively.

King Notes Defenseman Craig Redmond of the Kings had to be helped off the ice with 15:37 left in the second period after he suffered a sprained right knee. . . . King defenseman Grant Ledyard lost a tooth and had a couple of others loosened when he was hit in the mouth by the stick of Pittsburgh right wing Randy Cunneyworth with 10:08 left in the game. Ledyard also suffered a cut lip. . . . King captain Dave Taylor missed the game because he has the flu. . . . King left wing Dave Williams sat out his second consecutive game because of a a bruised shoulder.