Gretzky’s Magic Elixir Works, Leaves the Kings Feeling Down

As if facing The Great One wasn’t a formidable enough task, the Kings are also facing The Energized One in their Smythe Division semifinal series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Wayne Gretzky, whose “slump” at the end of the regular season included only one goal and six assists in his last eight games, says a special vitamin program has given him a “second wind” for the playoffs.

And now he’s trying to knock the wind out of the Kings.

The seven-time NHL Most Valuable Player had four assists and scored an empty-net goal with 26 seconds left Sunday in the Oilers’ 6-3 victory before a crowd of 11,545 at the Forum.

The win gave Edmonton a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

And the assists gave Gretzky 13 for the series, one shy of the NHL record he established in a six-game series against Chicago two years ago. He had six assists Thursday night in the Oilers’ 13-3 rout in Game 2.

“I’ve been on a special program for about three weeks now,” Gretzky said. “Whether it has to do with that or not, I don’t know--maybe it’s a psychological thing--but I’ve never felt this strong.”

And rarely have the Kings felt so helpless.

They all had great things to say about Gretzky Sunday. King Coach Mike Murphy said he had never seen The Great One play any greater than he has in this series.

Gretzky’s last assist Sunday set up Esa Tikkanen, whose goal with 3:52 left gave Edmonton a 5-3 lead, and left King rookie Jimmy Carson shaking his head.

Tikkanen, sneaking out from behind the Kings’ net to a spot just to the left of the goalmouth, took a perfect pass from the right circle by Gretzky and deflected it past King goalie Rollie Melanson.

“I was watching it from the bench, and all you could see from (Gretzky’s) angle was one stick,” Carson said. “He feathered it in. You don’t know how hard that is. He’s amazing.”

On his first assist, Gretzky took the puck with him as he skated diagonally from left to right into the Kings’ zone. Three defenders went with him, so he left the puck for teammate Jari Kurri, who picked it up as he crossed behind Gretzky.

The play produced a one-on-one situation for Kurri, whose slapshot from the right circle flew past Melanson into the left side of the net.

It’s an indication of the opportunities Gretzky creates for his teammates that Kurri has scored on 7 of 11 shots in the last three games, all of them Oiler victories.

“He’s the best playmaker in the world and right now he’s hot,” Kurri said of his celebrated linemate. “He seems to be everywhere. He seems to be finding everybody.”

He had three third-period assists Sunday, but could have had another in the last minute.

He said afterward that if he had realized that Tikkanen already had two goals, he wouldn’t have shot at the empty net, but would have fed his teammate for the hat trick.

That would have enabled Gretzky to equal his playoff assist record.

“I was sitting on the bench near the end of the game and I figured I was close to it,” Gretzky said. “But I’ve got one more game. We’ll see what happens.”

If it’s more of the same from Gretzky, the Kings are in trouble.

“People gave him a hard time about the last 10 games of the season, but he came back rested and he’s playing great hockey,” Kurri said.

Gretzky started the week in pain. He has a double toenail on his right foot that will require surgery after the playoffs. He took a day off last Monday, but on Tuesday when he tried to skate, his toe still bothered him.

And then on Wednesday he said, “I put on my skate and it didn’t even hurt.”

He started putting the hurt on the Kings Thursday night at Edmonton.

“I feel very up,” Gretzky said.

A few weeks ago, he said, the physical and mental strains of the 80-game regular season had caught up to him. He needed an elixir.

Whether it was vitamins or just the playoffs themselves, he seems to have found one.

“I think everybody gets a little mentally tired,” he said. “But I feel very strong right now, and it’s a good time to be feeling strong.”

Good for Gretzky, maybe.

Bad for the Kings.