THE NHL PLAYOFFS : Kings Play the Oilers With Everything to Lose

Unless the Kings can find a quick way to solve hockey’s most challenging puzzle, Wayne Gretzky, they will be coming home Wednesday, without a playoff game to play Thursday.

The Edmonton Oilers hold a 3-1 lead in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and will play the Kings tonight in the Northlands Coliseum.

If the Kings win, the teams will play in the Forum Thursday night. If the Kings lose, they’ll have all summer to devise ways to foil Gretzky.

The Oiler center has almost single-handedly carried his team. His 13 points in the four playoff games lead the league. Gretzky’s play comes as little surprise to the Kings, of course, who had seen his dominant style in eight regular-season games against their Smythe Division rival.

“We’re putting the right people out there against him,” King Coach Mike Murphy said. “He has such great skills. He can stop and start on a dime. We’ll play the same way up there and hope it works.”

Murphy has been sending the defensive pairs of Steve Duchesne-Tom Laidlaw and Grant Ledyard-Jay Wells against Gretzky’s line. Duchesne, a rookie, said after Sunday afternoon’s 6-3 loss to Edmonton, “We’ve got to be more disciplined. They do so many things in our zone. We know what they are going to do.”

What Duchesne didn’t add was that the Kings, and the rest of the league, have been helpless to stop the Oilers.

In the Kings’ favor is that they tend to play well in Edmonton, whereas the Oilers seem to play better in the Forum. The Kings are 1-4 at home against the Oilers in playoff games, and are 3-4 in Edmonton.

It’s been an agonizing series for Murphy, who knows his team would probably advance beyond the first round if it weren’t playing the best team in hockey.

Generally, the Kings have performed far beyond expectations. Except for a complete breakdown in the second game in Edmonton, where the Oilers blitzed the Kings, 13-3, the games have been of a high level.

“I’ve been more than pleased with their performance, other than the second game,” Murphy said. “There are 20-25 men who are playing with as much effort as you could ask.

“It’s disappointing. We know that if we go up there and throw a game at them like we did the last two, we’ll beat them.”

The Kings have a formidable task. If they hope to advance, they must win the next three games. The last team to come back from a three-game deficit was the 1975 New York Islanders. The Islanders lost the first three games in the second round to Pittsburgh, then won the next four.

Murphy said the Kings’ effort in Sunday’s game indicated that they could mount such a comeback.

“We played a hard game and I’m proud of the way we performed,” Murphy said after the 6-3 defeat. “That’s how we’re going to play up there. We really wanted to win a game here for our fans. We still want to win the series for them. If we play like we did today, we’ll get a win and we will bring this thing back to our building.

“We’re doing a lot of things right, the players know what they’re doing right. They know that they’ll win games for us.”

Bernie Nicholls is leading the King scorers with two goals and four assists in the series. Dave (Tiger) Williams has not played much but has lived up to his nickname when he does play. He’s the second-leading scorer for the Kings, with three goals and two assists.

The Kings’ goaltending has been solid. Rollie Melanson has coped well with the persistent Oiler offense, and the occasional lapses in the King defense.

“We’re pleased with his play,” King goaltending coach Phil 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 Kings know that a good effort tonight won’t be enough against the Oilers.

“Playoff games are funny,” Murphy said. “Anything can happen. We’ll try to bring it right back here. I’m confident that we can. If there is such a thing as luck, we’ll need it.”