Kings Are Stopped by Flyers’ Hextall, 4-2 : Rookie Goalie Puts an End to L.A.’s Three-Game Unbeaten Streak

The battle for Rookie of the Year in the National Hockey League looks as if it’s going to be between King left wing Luc Robitaille and Ron Hextall, the Philadelphia Flyers’ super goalie.

The Kings saw Hextall for the first time Saturday night, and he was as good as advertised as the Flyers beat the Kings, 4-2, before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum.

The loss broke a three-game unbeaten streak for the Kings (24-28-7).

Hextall, who blanked the Kings for the first two periods as the Flyers built a 3-0 lead, got a leg up on Robitaille in the race for the Calder Trophy when he made a great save on Robitaille on a first-period breakaway.

“I knew it was Robitaille from center ice,” Hextall said, “I knew he has good hands. I didn’t know whether he was going to deke or shoot. I just came out and challenged him.”

Hextall also made another fine save on a shot by Dave (Tiger) Williams in the second period. Asked what Tiger said to him, Hextall said: “He told me it was lucky. I didn’t say anything back to him.”

Asked whom he would select as Rookie of the Year, Hextall said: “I don’t know. It’s a three-man race (among Hextall, Robitaille and Jimmy Carson of the Kings).”

Asked whom he would vote for, Robitaille said: “I wouldn’t vote for me. It wouldn’t be fair. I would vote for him (Hextall). He’s a really good goalie.”

Asked about the save Hextall made on him on his breakaway, Robitaille said: “I tried to shoot quick, but he has longer legs than I thought. I should have waited a half-second longer. He played me well.”

Said King Coach Mike Murphy: “I think Luc has made a bigger difference to our team than he (Hextall) has made. They won a lot of games last year with Bob Froese. Luc has made a tremendous difference to our team. But I’m not taking anything away from Hextall, he’s a super goalie. He’s going to be an all-star for years to come.”

With the Kings trailing, 3-0, Robitaille scored a power-play goal at 3:19 of the third period, and after the Flyers had made it 4-1, Jim Fox scored another power-play goal on a rebound of a shot by Bernie Nicholls at 13:50 of the period.

Hextall, who is also a candidate for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the league’s top goalie, leads the NHL in wins (30), games played by a goalie (51), minutes played (2,993) and save percentage and is second in goals-against average.

Bryan Propp led the Flyers with three points on a goal and two assists, and center Per-Erik Eklund had two first-period goals.

The Flyers (37-18-5) are unbeaten in their last three games (2-0-1).

Hextall looked sharp in the first two periods as he held the Kings without a goal on 20 shots, 8 in the first period and 12 in the second.

The Flyers led, 2-0, at the end of the first period on Elkund’s goals.

Eklund had two goals and six assists in three games against the Kings last season.

The Flyers scored on their first shot on goal when Eklund redirected a centering pass from Doug Crossman for his first goal of the game at 6:29 of the first period.

Eklund added a power-play goal with 41 seconds left in the first period.

The power play was set up when King goalie Roland Melanson was called for delay of game with 45 seconds left after he flipped the puck up into the stands and hit a lady who was seated in the second row.

The Kings outshot the Flyers, 9-8, in the first period, and they had two power plays.

The Flyers made it 3-0 when Propp scored an unassisted goal at 5:20 of the second period. Propp put a nice move on King defenseman Jay Wells, giving him a little fake before he surprised Melanson.

The Kings broke the ice in the third period when Robitaille scored a power-play goal on a rebound of a shot by Wells. Robitaille has scored goals in his last four games, a season high.

But the Flyers quickly retaliated. Peter Zezel poked in a shot by Propp at 4:58. Zezel is having his best season ever with 29 goals, surpassing his career high of 17, set last season.

Fox closed out the scoring with his 18th goal of the season.

King Notes

The Kings close out the six-game home stand with two games against the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday and Thursday at the Forum. . . . It was the Kings’ third sellout of the season. They had two last season.