Melanson Earns His 100th Victory : King Goaltender Faces 40 Shots in 7-4 Win Over Capitals

Forgive goaltender Roland Melanson for feeling like the target in a shooting gallery, but 75 shots on goal against the Kings in the last two games?

Monday night, Melanson stopped 34 of 35 shots as the Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs skated to a 1-1 tie.

Wednesday night, he faced 40 shots, stopped most of them and thereby earned his 100th victory as the Kings beat the Washington Capitals, 7-4, before a Forum crowd of 8,761.

That makes Rollie the Goalie 11-3-1 against Washington in his career and 6-1-2 in his nine most recent starts at home.

“I thought he was great the whole night,” King Coach Mike Murphy said. “The first period could have gotten out of hand if it wasn’t for his performance. He is playing super hockey, and there’s not much else you can say. You can go back and look at the tapes of the game and see all the saves he makes.”

Wing Bob Bourne also had a fine game against Washington, scoring twice and picking up an assist. This after a scoring hat trick when the teams met Nov. 18 at Landover, Md..

Bourne’s second goal came in the final period, during which he and Luc Robitaille each scored to secure the victory. Robitaille’s goal was his 34th of the season, breaking the team record for most goals by a rookie that Steve Bozek had set in the 1981-82 season.

The win was the Kings’ 24th of the season, one more than they had in total last season. They are 24-27-7 and their 54 points ties their 1985-86 mark.

It took a second-period wake-up call to do it. After scoring just one goal in three of their past five games, the Kings scored four in the second period to take a 5-4 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Bernie Nicholls, Phil Sykes, Bourne and Dave (Tiger) Williams each had goals in the second period as the Kings bounced back from a 3-1 deficit. Washington’s hot-shooting Mike Gartner scored with 19 seconds left to keep it close.

“We like to think we’re a pretty good offensive team,” Sykes said, “and then we come out for first period and played just brutal.”

Melanson ran into trouble in the early going against Washington primarily because of his own defense.

The Capitals, caught in the logjam for second place in the Patrick Division, scored three times in the opening period, once while playing shorthanded. That was one of two failed power plays in the first 20 minutes by the Kings.

Moreover, two of the Washington goals involved former Kings. Defenseman Larry Murphy (1980-84) put the Capitals ahead, 1-0, on an unassisted goal 4:28 into the game, his slap shot from the right side deflecting off King defenseman Steve Duchesne and bouncing past Melanson.

The Kings tied the score less than two minutes later when Morris Lukowich put the puck past Capital goalie Bob Mason, with Duchesne and Jimmy Carson getting assists. Marcel Dionne came close to getting another later in the period, but Mason stopped him at close range on consecutive shots.

Mike Gartner then scored the first of his two goals, and his 14th in as many games, at 17:28 to give Washington a 2-1 lead. Gartner picked up the loose puck after it bounced over kneeling King defender Grant Ledyard at the L.A. blue line, skated in and lifted the shot over a sprawled Melanson, who claimed that the shot never went in. The goal judge did not turn on the siren, but television replays clearly showed the puck hitting the top inside of the net and then bouncing in the crease.

The Capitals increased their lead to 3-1 with 42 seconds left in the first period when Craig Laughlin tipped a shot by Garry Galley past Melanson.