Smail Gets Quick Goal, Kings Lose in Overtime

Doug Smail scored on a breakaway with 1:34 left in overtime Tuesday night to give the Winnipeg Jets a 7-6 victory over the Kings at the Forum.

Smail’s goal, scored after he took a pass from Thomas Steen and split the defense, kept the Jets unbeaten (4-0-1) in overtime games and brought the Kings to new heights in frustration.

The Kings had scored four goals in the last 22 minutes of regulation to overcome a 5-2 deficit, only to have the Jets’ Laurie Boschman tie the game on a power-play goal with 50 seconds left.

“Anytime you give up a goal in the last minute and then lose in overtime--that should never happen,” said Dave Taylor, the Kings’ captain. “We just gave this game away.

“They just crowded the net and the puck seemed to have eyes (on Boschman’s goal), but to give up a breakaway in overtime. . . . “

With a crowd of 7,817 looking on, the Kings caught the Jets with 11:06 remaining when Bernie Nicholls intercepted a pass by Randy Carlyle and scored a short-handed goal.

Luc Robitaille capped the Kings’ comeback with 2:49 left, scoring a power-play goal off a pass from Jim Fox on a beautifully executed play after Fox had taken a nice pass from Bob Carpenter.

But with defenseman Wayne McBean in the penalty box for holding Winnipeg’s Iain Duncan, and a sixth skater on the ice for the Jets after goaltender Eldon (Pokey) Reddick had been pulled, Boschman deflected a shot from the top of the slot by Dave Ellett, tying the score at 6-6.

It was the first shot in 13 that got past King goaltender Glenn Healy, who had replaced Rollie Melanson after the Kings had fallen behind, 5-2.

Healy, who faced 17 shots, didn’t have much of a chance on the game-winning shot by Smail, which sailed over his right shoulder and into the upper left corner of the net.

Winnipeg, which had lost seven of its previous eight games, scored on 2 of its first 3 shots and 5 of its first 12, chasing a frustrated Melanson midway through the second period.

Goals by Thomas Steen and Iain Duncan gave the Jets a 2-0 lead in the first 8 minutes 9 seconds.

A shot from the top of the slot by Brad Berry trickled off Melanson, winding up behind the goaltender, where it was knocked into the net by Steen.

Dale Hawerchuk later stole a clearing pass by the Kings’ Dean Kennedy and fed a pass into the slot to Duncan, who scored on a 20-foot shot.

After the Kings tied it on goals by Jim Fox, who scored on a give-and-go off a pretty pass by Bernie Nicholls, and Paul Fenton, who scored from in front off a pass from Bob Bourne that was almost as nice, the Jets added two power-play goals in the last six minutes of the period to take a 4-2 lead.

“We weren’t willing to pay the price and to get physical,” King Coach Mike Murphy said of the first period. “It got to the point where we were just coughing up the puck.”

Hawerchuk, who has a point in 13 straight games and 22 of the Jets’ 24, put a 15-foot shot into the upper right corner of the net with 5:57 left in the period for his 13th goal. He has scored 10 during manpower advantages.

Then, with McKenna off the ice for interference, Mario Marois fired a 40-foot shot from the right point that sailed through Melanson’s legs with 2:54 left in the period.

When a shot from the right circle by Andrew McBain also made its way through Melanson’s legs with 11:31 left in the second period, giving the Jets a 5-2 lead, Murphy summoned Healy.

And, while Healy held the Jets scoreless in five shots the rest of the period, the Kings cut the deficit to 5-4 on goals by Robitaille and Steve Duchesne.

Robitaille scored from about 10 feet with 1:21 left in the period after taking a pass in the slot from Jimmy Carson, who had chased down the puck behind the Jets’ net.

Duchesne also scored off a pass from Carson, netting a shot from about 35 feet out with 22 seconds left.

The Jets tightened up defensively after that, not allowing the Kings any shots in the third period until Nicholls slid a shot between Reddick’s legs during a Winnipeg power play.

King Notes

Paul Fenton equaled career highs of 7 goals and 12 points with his first-period goal. Fenton, who has played in 17 games, had the same totals in 33 games for the Hartford Whalers in the 1984-85 season, but didn’t have any points in 9 games with the Whalers and New York Rangers the last 2 seasons. . . . Jay Wells, who twisted his back Sunday night in a fight with New Jersey’s Brendan Shanahan, was scratched. Wells said he probably would be able to play Thursday night against the Jets. . . . Tom Laidlaw, who missed his eighth straight game because of a sprained ligament in his right knee, skated the last two days and also said he hopes to play Thursday night. He has been told that his knee will be sore the rest of the season. . . . Phil Sykes, who has missed 18 games with a severely pulled groin, said he probably will make the Kings’ next trip, which starts Saturday night at Montreal. . . . Joe Paterson, scratched for the eighth straight game, said he was available to play after missing the previous seven games with a pulled groin.