Kings Let One Get Away, 4-3

It says a lot about the state of the Kings that they were mostly upbeat Tuesday night after squandering a 3-1 third-period lead in losing to the New York Islanders, 4-3.

Before a crowd of 13,001 at the Nassau Coliseum, the Kings outplayed one of the National Hockey League’s premier teams, only to give up three goals in a 3-minute, 53-second span in the third period.

“I don’t think you can get a more committed effort than we got tonight,” Coach Mike Murphy said. “I’m happy with the effort and intensity of our team. I thought we outworked and outplayed the Islanders all night.

“With the exception of a few errors, which are natural throughout the course of a game, I thought our team played a hard game and deserved a much better fate.”

Of course, after giving up 17 goals in their previous two games, anything was bound to look good to the Kings.

In fact, though, they had played well, taking a 2-0 lead into the third period. They unraveled, however, after Jimmy Carson’s second goal of the night--and fifth in four games--gave them a 3-1 lead with 7:33 remaining.

In quick succession:

--Bryan Trottier worked himself free from the grasp of Bob Carpenter in front of the net, took a pass from the right corner by Tomas Jonsson and beat King goaltender Glenn Healy to cut the Kings’ lead to 3-2 with 6:26 left.

“If I’d known the puck was on him,” said Carpenter, whose back was to the play, “I could have tackled him, but I didn’t know where it was. I was holding him, holding him, holding him and the referee was yelling, ‘Let him go,’ ‘Let him go,’ ‘Let him go.’ I didn’t want to take a penalty at that time.”

--Bob Bassen won a face-off in the right circle from Carson, sending the puck to the right point, where Ken Leiter’s slapshot threaded through a maze of players and past Healy, tying the score, 3-3, with 4:22 left.

Healy, who didn’t move, said he never saw the puck as it sailed over his right shoulder and into the net.

“He shot it through nine guys and hit the top shelf without hitting anybody,” Healy said. “That’s as fortunate as you can get.”

--Denis Potvin, leading a 3-on-2 breakaway, veered to the left circle, where he fired an uncontested shot that slid past Healy and caromed off the right post and into the net, giving the Islanders a 4-3 lead with 2:33 left.

Healy said he misread the play, believing that Potvin would pass.

“As he was cutting (to my) right, he shot (to my) left,” Healy said. “It was a nice shot.”

Carpenter, who was leaving the ice for a line change, quickly reconsidered when he saw Potvin charging toward the net. Potvin, who said he had it in his mind all along to shoot, had picked up the puck from Steve Duchesne at the Kings’ blue line after the King defenseman had been knocked down.

“I thought I kept him wide enough,” Carpenter said of Potvin, “but he got the shot off and beat the goalie.”

And the Islanders, who had played so poorly in the first two periods that they were booed as they made their way to the locker room for the second intermission, had their fifth straight victory and eighth in nine games.

The Islanders, who lead the Patrick Division with a 13-4-1 record, are off to their best start since 1978-79, the season before they won the first of their four straight Stanley Cup championships.

For that reason, the Kings were mostly pleased with themselves after forcing much of the action.

“I think the team’s really improving,” Carson said. “Now we’ve just got to learn how to win.”

And Murphy said: “It hurts, but we’ve learned that we can do it. Now we’ve got to do it for 60 minutes--not for 54 or 53, or whatever it was.

“We’ve got a young team that’s learning from experience, and it’s not easy. There’s some pain involved.”

That was evident as Co-owner Bruce McNall made his way through the locker room afterward, congratulating the players on their effort.

“Shoulda won, shoulda won,” Mark Hardy muttered. “It was our game.”

Not at the end, it wasn’t.

King Notes

Co-owner Bruce McNall, who sent word to the bench last month at Buffalo that he would give cash bonuses to the players if they made up a 3-1 deficit against the Sabres in the third period, said he was warned by NHL President John Ziegler that he would face a $10,000 fine if he tried it again. Ziegler didn’t fine him this time, he said, because word of the offer, which is a violation of league rules, never reached the players. . . . Larry Playfair, who was told by doctors after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee last February that he probably would miss the entire season, was given the OK by Dr. Steve Lombardo Tuesday to rejoin the team. He took a red-eye flight from Los Angeles Tuesday night, will practice with the Kings today in Philadelphia and probably will play Thursday night against the Flyers. Playfair, the biggest King at 6-4 and 200 pounds, skated all through training camp and has participated in contact drills the last three weeks. “I’m excited,” he said Tuesday by phone from his home in El Segundo, “but I’m nervous that I might be a step or two behind.” . . . Tom Laidlaw, who re-injured his right knee last Friday night at Calgary, was unable to play, so the Kings called up Ken Hammond from their American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn., to replace him. Laidlaw missed three games last month after straining a ligament in the knee Oct. 11 against Edmonton.

Petr Prajsler, signed amid much fanfare after defecting from Czechoslovakia last summer, was assigned to New Haven because the Kings couldn’t find a place for him in their lineup. “It would have been nice for him to have stepped right in and played well right away,” General Manager Rogie Vachon said, “but he’s had a big adjustment to make.” . . . Grant Ledyard, who missed most of training camp and the first two weeks of the season with a sprained left ankle, also was sent to New Haven--for conditioning purposes. The Kings hope that Ledyard, who played in three games last month before returning to the sideline, will be able to rejoin them Sunday at Buffalo after playing in three games for the Nighthawks.