Melanson Is Defended, but Asked to Do More

There must be some nights when King goaltender Rollie Melanson feels like that guy in the television ad, floating on a log in the middle of the ocean. He’s all alone out there.

Only in his case the Navy never arrives to rescue him.

He’s left to sink or swim.

Saturday at the Forum, he faced 35 shots in the Kings’ 6-5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The victory gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series.

But nobody was blaming Melanson.

“Goaltending was not our problem,” Coach Mike Murphy of the Kings said.

Three Oiler goals, including the last two, were scored after the Kings gave up the puck in their own zone, creating breakaways for the Oilers.

“You can’t make those kinds of mistakes against the Oilers,” Murphy said. “They were the difference in the game.”

But, on a better day, Melanson could have been the difference, said King assistant coach Phil Myre. Melanson didn’t wait around to offer his opinion.

“We’re pleased with his play,” Myre said, “but if you’re going to win against Edmonton, you’ve got to have outstanding goaltending. You’ve got to make saves that normally you wouldn’t make.”

The Oilers have come after the King goaltenders in waves after losing the opening game of the series, 5-2, Wednesday night at Edmonton.

In the second game Thursday night, Melanson made 10 saves in the first period, but was pulled with the Kings trailing, 6-1.

Murphy, though, said shots-on-goal is often a deceiving statistic.

“They dumped the puck at our net an awful lot, hoping to forecheck us,” he said. “Last year in the playoffs, one of the reasons they got beat by Calgary (in the Smythe Division finals) was because they failed to dump the puck in and tried to run and gun it with everybody. So, they’ve learned a valuable lesson.

“They have dumped the puck at our goalie a tremendous amount, much more than is common for the Oilers.”

Murphy said the Oilers are so skilled offensively that they create a lot of “outnumbered attacks” or breakaways in which they have a man advantage.

In those instances, he said, the goaltender will often lean in anticipation of a pass or a shot “and that’s a mistake you can’t make against the Oilers--or any good offensive team--or they’ll get what we call questionable goals.

“Good offensive players often lead to bad goaltending because they’re getting good chances somewhere along the line.”

So, Melanson, who saved so many games for the Kings this season that the media voted him the Kings’ most valuable player, is being asked to bring his game up another notch in the playoffs.

It wouldn’t hurt to be lucky, too.

“We gave up the puck twice in the third period to give up the fifth and sixth goals,” Myre said. “That was basically the difference right there. If the goalie stops those shots, they’re great saves.

“But he can’t be faulted because he didn’t.”

That’s just the way it is with the Kings.