Kings’ Special Teams Are Nothing Special in a 6-5 Loss to Jets

King Coach Pat Quinn didn’t let his law degree and advanced education inhibit him as he groped for a description of his team’s 6-5 loss Thursday night to the Winnipeg Jets.

He came up with something a third-grader might call the playground bully-stinker.

“I guess we’re entitled to a stinker,” Quinn said. “No, we’re not entitled to a stinker, not with our record. But that’s what we got.”

It was an apt description of the way the Kings, whose record is 5-11-1, played before a crowd of 7,153 in the Forum. After two straight wins, the Kings’ attempt to rest on recent laurels found them sitting on thorns. Or just sitting, period.

“I’m amazed at the way we approached the game today,” Quinn said. “We didn’t have guys who were ready to play. We didn’t work.”

Asked what Winnipeg (9-6-1) did differently from its 4-3 loss to the Kings Tuesday night, Quinn didn’t have to search for an answer.

“They worked,” he said. “They beat us to all the loose pucks. We had a bunch of pansies in the corners. We played like the old Kings.”

Like the old Kings. It was the ultimate put-down.

The Kings’ special teams sabotaged their teammates’ third-period comeback. Because the King penalty-killing unit allowed three power-play goals (the third time in the last five games it has done so) there was too much ground to make up.

Paul MacLean had all three power-play goals for the Jets, and it was MacLean’s work that gave Winnipeg a 5-2 lead going into the third period. But the Kings came out fighting and scored two goals in 1 minute 26 seconds. Bryan Erickson scored on a shot from the blue line just 41 seconds into the period.

Then Dave (Tiger) Williams earned a measure of redemption for an earlier loss of control. The Kings had a power play at the end of the second period that would have carried over to the third had not Williams drawn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty right at the 20-minute mark.

That nullified the King power play. Williams served the penalty at the start of the third period, and seven seconds after he stepped back on the ice he took a perfect pass from Erickson and scored from the right side.

Before the period was over, Marcel Dionne sent the crowd into a frenzy when he tied the score at 5-5 with 3 1/2 minutes left to play.

Like most King comebacks, this one did not last. Twenty-five seconds after Dionne’s goal, Gilles Hamel took the puck away from King rookie Luc Robitaille at center ice and scored the winning goal for the Jets.

It was a wild and tough third period, and the first in which the Kings showed any fight.

“The other night, if there was a loose puck, we battled for it,” Quinn said. “I thought we had a little spirit in the third (period), but what the hell is that?”

The Kings certainly played differently than they had in Tuesday’s win. The first period was evidence of that. Any time six goals are scored in one period, it’s a hint that offensive lines are clicking and defensive assignments are missed.

“We just weren’t there in the first 20 minutes,” Williams said.

The Kings were there, but just ineffective and apparently not willing to work.

The Jets scored on their first power-play opportunity, at 2:52, and the Kings scored on their first, at 4:16. Both scores came on the first shots taken by each team.

The Kings got the tie after Grant Ledyard’s shot in traffic rebounded to Jimmy Carson, who scored while off balance on the left side.

After that, turnovers led to goals.

The Jets went ahead after Dale Hawerchuk intercepted Robitaille’s pass and raced into the King zone. Bob Janecyk made a save on Hawerchuk’s shot, but the puck trickled out of Janecyk’s glove and Laurie Boschman scored on the rebound.

Hawerchuk scored little more than one minute later, again with a stolen puck. He blocked defenseman Dean Kennedy’s shot in the Jet zone and took the puck on a breakaway to score. That gave the Jets a 3-1 lead.

The turnovers didn’t stop there. Defenseman Dave Ellett turned the puck over to the Kings’ Bob Bourne 21 seconds later. Bourne’s shot from the left side clipped off of Sean McKenna’s skate and in for a goal.

MacLean scored again for the Jets on a power play to give Winnipeg a 4-2 lead at the end of the period.

MacLean got a hat trick on another power play at 15:52 in the second period.

The Kings had only one scoring chance in the second period, but Dionne’s point-blank blast at Eldon Reddick was smothered by the Winnipeg goaltender.

King Notes Paul MacLean’s assist in the first period was his 200th in the NHL. His three goals marked his second hat trick this season and fourth of his career. . . . Larry Playfair’s assist in the first period was his 100th NHL point. . . . Winnipeg is keeping three goaltenders on its roster, not unusual this season. What’s uncommon is that two of the goalies are rookies. Daniel Berthiaume has played in only four NHL games, and his loss to the Kings Tuesday was his first. Eldon Reddick, who is called Pokey by his teammates, is one of two black goaltenders in the league. The first black goaltender in NHL history was Grant Fuhr, who plays for Edmonton.