Kings Get Blown Away in Calgary

Whenever the Calgary Flames score a goal at the Olympic Saddledome, the sound of gunfire is played over the public address system.

Friday night, it sounded as if a Sam Peckinpah movie were being filmed in the arena as the Flames shot up the Kings, 10-7, before a crowd of 19,143.

“It was like a machine gun,” King defenseman Mark Hardy said of the onslaught by the Flames.

When the opening lines of Sting’s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” were played during the second intermission, it could have been an ode to the Kings.

“Free, free, set them free . . . “

By that time, the Flames led, 8-3, having scored a season-high eight goals in the first 37 minutes 36 seconds.

King goaltender Rollie Melanson had been all but buried by an avalanche of end-to-end rushes by the Flames.

“We just didn’t get too much of anything that’s been preached here,” said Coach Mike Murphy of the Kings. “We got very little checking, very little intensity. Disappointing game all the way around.

“They were coming to our net the first two periods almost at will.”

The Kings played without defenseman Jay Wells, who broke a toe in Tuesday night’s 4-4 tie against Edmonton, but Murphy wasn’t looking for excuses.

“We dressed a full lineup of players who claim that they’re NHLers and want to play in the NHL,” he said. “And then they. . . . “

And then they gave up four goals in less than eight minutes after cutting the Flames’ advantage to 4-3 early in the second period.

It got so out of hand that Hardy, asked later what happened at that point, told reporters: “I really can’t even remember when it was 4-3.”

That’s because the Flames, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 14:06, got goals from Gary Roberts, Jim Peplinski, Neil Sheehy and Carey Wilson in a span of 7:50 to make it 8-3 with 2:24 left in the period.

The Flames released a video this week, “Red Hot,” and they were smoking at that point.

The outcome of the game was all but been decided, although Jimmy Carson sparked some interest in the second-largest crowd in Flames’ history when he scored two power-play goals in the first 52 seconds of the third period.

“Once they got the big lead,” Murphy said of the Flames, “they got very careless and started to give things away.”

Much like the Kings had done in the first two periods.

Although the Kings outshot the Flames, 44-36, that’s a misleading statistic. The Flames had many more scoring opportunities.

“I’m disappointed with the way we played in our end, I’m disappointed with the way we lost the board battles and the corner battles and the battles in front of the net,” Murphy said. “We got beat up in just about every area of the game.

“We handed them goals on a platter. We gave them 3-on-2s and 4-on-2s at our net all the time.”

Peplinski, Wilson and Mike Bullard each had two goals for the Flames, who had the third-best record in the National Hockey League last season, but are only 8-7-2 this season.

The Kings hadn’t given up as many goals in a regular-season game since last Nov. 25, when they lost to Vancouver, 11-5.

Who’s to blame?

“They were making good plays and our defense wasn’t reading them very well and, as a result, they got prime shots from prime areas,” Murphy said of the Flames, who could have made it worse. They had three shots clang off the posts.

“There were breakdowns all over the ice. The forwards are to blame for being caught out of position and our defense wasn’t ready for the attack.”

King Notes

It was the most goals scored in a regular-season game involving the Kings, and the seven goals are believed to be an all-time high for the Kings in a loss. . . . Linesman Jim Christison was accidentally bumped and knocked to the ice by Luc Robitaille in the first period. Christison was taken to a hospital in the second period with a possible broken left wrist. . . . Bernie Nicholls was ejected in the second period after he joined a fight involving Jimmy Carson and Perry Berezen. . . . Carson had two goals and two assists. . . . Robitaille had three assists for the third time this season. . . . Dean Kennedy, who had missed four games with a broken finger, scored his first goal of the season in the third period. . . . Craig Redmond said Friday that he has not decided whether to join the Canadian Olympic team and that he may retire instead. “I’m going to have to get some enjoyment out of the game pretty soon, or I may have to exercise that option,” he said by phone from his parents’ home in Langley, Canada. Redmond, 22, was suspended by the Kings last month when he failed to report to their American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn. His father, Harry, is a successful land developer in the Vancouver area, and Redmond said he could make more money in business with his father than he could in hockey.