Kings Left at Start by Nordiques

At the Quebec Colisee, home of the Quebec Nordiques, public address announcements are given only in French.

In any language, though, the Kings de Los Angeles were mostly awful Tuesday night in a 5-3 loss to the Nordiques before a crowd of 13,982.

And speaking of language, King Coach Robbie Ftorek said his pregame oratory left something to be desired. Among other things, he said it was lacking in “aggressiveness,” which he said may have had something to do with the Kings’ listlessness and lethargy.

The Kings, whose 2-1 victory Sunday over the Winnipeg Jets was one of their best defensive efforts of the season, fell behind the Nordiques, 2-0, after only 2 minutes 17 seconds.

“I don’t think that I, uh, we prepared as well as we should have and we got jumped on right away,” said Ftorek, who added that he later apologized to the players.

Why would the Kings, who have been last in the Smythe Division for all but two days since Nov. 27, not be mentally prepared for a game?

“You ever written a bad story?” Ftorek asked the reporter who posed such a question. “Sometimes you’re not prepared as well as you should be. Unfortunately, tonight after I gave the talk before we went out on the ice I said to Maxie (assistant coach Bryan Maxwell), ‘That was a terrible preparational speech.’

“Probably not because of that, but possibly because of it, we had two goals scored against us right away. That’s just not right. We should be sent out on the ice in a better frame of mind.”

Ftorek also said he wasn’t “sharp” behind the bench.

How to explain the Nordiques, whose All-Star center, Peter Stastny, scored the first two of his three goals on the Nordiques’ first and third shots?

Their coach, Ron Lapointe, watched the game from the press box.

Lapointe and defenseman Terry Carkner were suspended by the National Hockey League Monday for their conduct Sunday night in the Nordiques’ 5-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Under a new rule that went into effect at the start of the season, Carkner drew an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join in a fight on the ice. The Nordiques were fined $10,000, and Lapointe drew a five-game suspension and was fined $1,000.

With assistant coach Guy Lapointe (no relation) filling in behind the bench, the Nordiques took a 3-1 lead into the third period, then got an unassisted goal from Mike Hough, who intercepted an errant clearing pass from goaltender Glenn Healy, only 40 seconds into the period.

The Kings, playing with more enthusiasm at that point, cut the deficit to 4-3 midway through the period on goals by Dave Taylor, who scored on a rebound at 4:02, and Bernie Nicholls, who scored on a shot from the right circle at 9:26.

Stastny, though, added his third goal with 2:07 left, firing a pass on a 2-on-1 breakaway into a sliding King defenseman, Steve Duchesne, who carried the puck with him into the net.

The goal killed any thoughts of a comeback win by the Kings.

Worse than that, Duchesne caught his left foot on the post as he slid into the net, twisting his left knee.

Doctors later told Duchesne, who had to be helped off the ice, that he would probably be out of the lineup for at least two or three weeks.

Another King defenseman, Jay Wells, discounted Ftorek’s opinion that a poorly prepared, poorly worded pregame speech helped to topple the Kings.

“It should not be the coach’s job to psych you up,” Wells said. “You shouldn’t wait for the coach to pump you up and get you excited. . . .

“You got (to the NHL) without the present coach. You got here because you were good. You didn’t have other people psyching you up. You psyched yourself up.”

And Taylor said: “The coach can tell you about the other team and about its tendencies, but motivation has to come from the players.”

Wells said the Kings’ problem is that they place too much importance on their infrequent victories.

“When we win a game,” he said, “we think we won the season. We’ve got to stop having these highs and lows.”

With or without Ftorek’s help.

King Notes Steve Duchesne will fly today to Los Angeles, where his injured left knee will be examined by team physician Dr. Steve Lombardo. “It’s my first knee injury, and I’m kind of scared about it,” said Duchesne, who was named last season to the NHL all-rookie team. Duchesne’s parents, who live nearby in Sept-Iles, attended the game. . . . Despite his suspension, Quebec Coach Ron Lapointe is free to speak with his team before and after games, and between periods. He is forbidden only from coaching during the game, according to a Nordiques’ spokesman. . . . The Kings are 0-24-2 in games in which they’ve trailed at the end of two periods.

Pete Demers, in his 16th season as the Kings’ trainer, said Tuesday night’s was his 1,250th consecutive game. . . . The Kings end their five-game trip tonight at Toronto against the Maple Leafs, who are winless in their last 15 games. The Maple Leafs, who overcame a 6-2 deficit in a 6-6 tie with the Kings Nov. 21 at Toronto, are 0-11-4 since winning Dec. 23 at St. Louis and haven’t won at Maple Leaf Gardens since Dec. 15. Coach Robbie Ftorek said the Maple Leafs’ winless streak is of no significance to him. “I wouldn’t want to lose to a team that’s won 15 in a row,” Ftorek said.