King-Sized Skid Continues as Winnipeg Wins : Melanson Stops 43 Shots, but Los Angeles Still Loses Fifth Straight Game, 4-3

WINNIPEG, Canada —  Motley Crue, a group of heavy metal practitioners from Los Angeles, rocked a Winnipeg strip joint in a predawn concert Thursday that was filmed for Japanese television.

Another motley crew from Los Angeles was itself rocked Friday night at the Winnipeg Arena, where only the splendid goaltending of Rollie Melanson kept the Kings from anything more embarrassing than a 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets before a crowd of 11,480.

On a night when Melanson stopped 43 shots, the Kings had nothing to show for it but their fifth straight loss.

It was only the second time this season that the Kings (1-6), who rank last in the National Hockey League with 16 goals, had scored more than two goals in one game.

“When you get in one of these skids,” Melanson said, “it seems like everything goes wrong.”

Like on the game-winning goal, scored by Laurie Boschman with 16:16 left after the Kings had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game with a goal by Jimmy Carson in the last minute of the second period and another by defenseman Steve Duchesne in the first two minutes of the third.

From a difficult angle in the bottom of the right circle, Boschman somehow threaded a shot past Melanson, who seemed to have the goalmouth well-protected, and into the upper left corner of the net.

“I had the angle on him,” a frustrated Melanson said. “I would play it the same way 99% of the time. He made a hell of a shot from that angle.

“But that’s what I’m talking about. You hit one of these skids and the puck’s got eyes on it. You make all the saves you can make to win the game, and they get a goal like that to win it.”

Actually, if not for Melanson, the Jets might have had the game well in hand at that point.

And the Kings weren’t helped any in their futile comeback attempt after Boschman’s goal when captain Dave Taylor, who assisted on the Kings’ last two goals, missed the last 10 1/2 minutes after being assessed a misconduct penalty.

Taylor, who originally was called for slashing along with Winnipeg’s Randy Carlyle, said Carlyle jabbed him with his stick as they skated along the boards and that he made a motion toward referee Bill McCreary to indicate as much.

“I guess he took it as some kind of motion against him,” Taylor said of McCreary. “I didn’t think it was grounds for a 10-minute misconduct, but apparently he had warned our bench earlier about yapping.”

Coach Mike Murphy called it an improper call, especially at that stage of the game.

“When you start putting down the best players for marginal misconduct penalties,” Murphy said, “I think the referee is trying to be bigger than the game.”

Murphy didn’t have many nice things to say about his players, either.

Reiterating a theme that has become all too redundant in the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season, he said the Kings, who play the Jets again Sunday, are not making intelligent plays and are yielding too many outnumbered attacks.

“I feel that our defense is getting flat-footed at the offensive blue line,” Murphy said. “And part of the reason for that is they’re trying to play the puck and keep an offensive opportunity alive.

“Our third forward hasn’t been in position to back them up on a turnover and it’s 3-on-2 or 2-on-1.”

The Jets scored their first goal during a 4-on-4 situation when Thomas Steen, hanging back on the play, took a pass at center ice from Peter Taglianetti, split the King defense and had only Melanson to beat.

A short-handed goal by Phil Sykes got the Kings even with 1:25 left in the first period, but the Jets regained the lead with 21 seconds left on a power-play goal by Dale Hawerchuk.

Winnipeg already had a man advantage when Jay Wells was called for slashing, creating a 5-on-3 situation, but only for one second.

Off the ensuing face-off, Melanson dove to stop a shot by Paul MacLean, but as Melanson lay on the ice--the puck only inches from his feet--Hawerchuk skated nimbly around him and slid the puck into the unprotected net.

The Jets had scored only four seconds after Wells’ penalty.

King Notes John Ferguson, the Jets’ general manager, has been quoted this week as saying that he is interested in making a trade for Craig Redmond, a former first-round draft choice of the Kings who was suspended indefinitely last week after he failed to report to the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn. “But I’m not going to give up the franchise to get him,” Ferguson told the Winnipeg Free Press, indicating that he thought the Kings’ asking price was too high. John Wolf, an administrative assistant for the Kings, said several teams have shown interest in Redmond, who is staying with his parents outside Vancouver, “but we don’t want to give him away just because he wants to be traded.” . . . Defenseman Tom Laidlaw, who missed three games, played for the first time since spraining a ligament in his right knee Oct. 11 against Edmonton and assisted on Phil Sykes’ goal. . . . Dave Taylor is sporting an inch-long cut on his forehead after being hit by a puck Wednesday night at Edmonton.