Fox’s Early ‘Goal’ Does Not Count as Nordiques Defeat the Kings, 3-2

In a game that was characterized by King giveaways, it was the very thing that the Kings did not want to give up that made the difference in their 3-2 loss to the Quebec Nordiques Sunday night.

A “goal” by Jim Fox in the first period was taken from him--a clear score that was not seen immediately by the goal judge.

The controversial call delighted the crowd of 15,283 in the Colisee. The fans no doubt feared yet another loss at home from their 20-26-7 Nordiques. The Kings, 22-24-6, became more gloomy about their prospects, having lost the first two road games with three left on this trip.

Fox had closed in on Quebec goaltender Mario Gosselin and shot from the right circle. What various replays showed was the puck hitting the back of the net, then glancing off the left post and out of the net.

Fox, thinking he had scored, raised his arms in celebration, then watched, amazed, as play continued. He remained behind the Nordique net as the play moved up the ice, and glared at the goal judge.

“There was no, no, no doubt about the goal,” Fox said emphatically to reporters after the game. “I thought the ref would blow the whistle and check with the goal judge. But he told me he can only do that when the (goal) light goes on.

“It (the puck) hit the middle of the net. That’s the thing that got me. It’s not like it was up high or so low that you couldn’t see it. The shot was waist high.”

The puck appeared to take a freak bounce, hitting a vertical support bar at the back of the net. Most NHL nets have no bars, aside from the side posts.

“From where I was, it definitely looked like it was in,” King Coach Mike Murphy said. “You could see the net bulge. It was a tough situation. I don’t think the referee and linesman were alert all evening. To miss a call like that was crucial in a hard-fought game.”

But, as Fox pointed out, the non-goal happened at 14:30 in the first period, plenty of time for the Kings to recover.

They didn’t because they fell into their old-King habit of taking a cavalier attitude with the puck. They didn’t protect it, they didn’t pass it well and, despite excellent scoring chances, they couldn’t put it in the net.

The Kings allowed two goals where defensemen were out of position and a third when a defenseman was stripped of the puck.

Nevertheless, Murphy was upbeat.

“I didn’t think we turned the puck over that badly,” he said. “They put us in an aggressive forechecking system. We made some errors in our zone. I thought we played pretty well.”

After a scoreless first period, the teams scored three goals in the second.

Michel Goulet scored first, beating King defensemen Jay Wells and Grant Ledyard, who were well into the Quebec zone and couldn’t get back to stop Goulet.

Bernie Nicholls tied it 3 1/2 minutes later. He stood in front of the Nordique net, waiting and waiting, finally shooting high on the glove side.

“I wanted to pass to Jimmy (Fox) on the side,” Nicholls said. “I wanted the defenseman to come to me. He didn’t, so I shot.”

The Nordiques took the lead again 1 minute 13 seconds later. Alain Cote took the puck from Wells and gave it to Mike Hough, who scored.

The Kings’ Marcel Dionne tied it at 2-2 in the third period, but the Kings fell behind again less than two minutes later.

Anton Stastny found Mark Hardy out of position for the goal at 4:48.

“I thought I played well, but there’s no satisfaction to play as well as you can and still not win,” King goalie Darren Eliot said.

King Notes

Dave Taylor of the Kings sprained his right knee halfway through the first period. He left the game and is questionable for Wednesday’s game in Toronto. . . . Marcel Dionne is 10th in the NHL in points scored and teammate Luc Robitaille is 11th. . . . Dionne, Robitaille and rookie defenseman Steve Duchesne are all in their element in the province of Quebec. Both in Montreal and here, the threesome conducted their interviews both in English and French. . . . Dave (Tiger) Williams ordered Coach Mike Murphy out of the King dressing room after the game Sunday night, where Murphy was being interviewed by reporters. Williams objected to the fact that there were women in the room.