Carson’s Hat Trick Silences Canucks

Jimmy Carson, whose squandered opportunities the night before had put him in a foul mood, vented his frustration on the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night at the Forum.

Scoring three goals for the second time in three games, the 19-year-old, second-year center gained his third hat trick of the season in leading the Kings to a 7-2 rout of the Canucks before a crowd of 9,586.

“I think I owed them,” said Carson, who failed to score on three quality chances in the Kings’ 5-2 loss Tuesday night at Vancouver. “I thought about it all night and all day.”

The victory gave the Kings a split of the two-game home-and-home set, again pulling them two points ahead of the Canucks in the “race” for fourth place in the Smythe Division.

“This is the time to make a move,” Carson said after the victory in the first game of a six-game home stand. “We’d like to play some good hockey and finish off (the Canucks), but that’s easier said than done.”

It was obvious Wednesday night that, despite their records, the teams have plenty of fight left in them.

Or, at least, plenty of fights.

Not surprisingly, considering the events of Tuesday night, it was a physical game, marred by 4 fights and 112 minutes in penalties.

Vancouver Coach Bob McCammon had intimated that the Canucks might seek retribution for hits made Tuesday night that put Vancouver’s Barry Pederson and Jim Sandlak out of the lineup.

Pederson, blind-sided by Bernie Nicholls, was out of the lineup Wednesday night because of a mild concussion. Sandlak, checked in the face by a forearm from Ken Baumgartner, was out with a jaw injury.

Before Wednesday’s game, an angry McCammon told reporters: “I expect fireworks because of those two hits. We are going to play aggressively and show we mean business.”

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to start.

In the first five minutes, Craig Coxe squared off with Baumgartner and Randy Boyd grappled with Phil Sykes.

By then, the Canucks led, 1-0, on a power-play goal by Willie Huber, whose shot from the top of the slot deflected off Nicholls, sailed over goaltender Glenn Healy and glanced off the bottom of the crossbar.

After Carson pulled the Kings even, scoring from just outside the crease after taking a pretty pass from Ken Hammond, Stan Smyl put the Canucks back in front, 2-1, with a 35-foot slap shot at 11:10 of the period.

It stayed that way until the end of the period, when Paul Fenton scored a controversial goal on a rebound.

The green light behind the net was illuminated, indicating that the period had ended. But referee Bob Hall ruled that goal judge Rick Lundgren had not reacted quickly enough to illuminate the red light, indicating a goal.

The red light cannot be illuminated after time has expired.

McCammon said later that Hall told him that a linesman said the puck had entered the net before the green light had been illuminated.

Hall disallowed a second-period goal by the Kings.

Fenton deflected a shot by Mark Hardy into the net, but Hall, apparently believing that goaltender Kirk McLean had frozen the puck, ruled that he had whistled the play dead.

“He tried to even it up,” McCammon said of Hall. “It was a ridiculous call. It was a good goal.”

It also was a goal that the Kings wouldn’t need.

By that time, they led, 3-2, Carson having scored his 33rd goal only 58 seconds into the second period.

Hall took Fenton’s goal away at 5:08, but the Kings continued to pressure McLean, who faced 47 shots.

Paul Guay made it 4-2 with 8:22 left in the period, dropping the puck for Sykes and crisscrossing with his teammate at the top of slot, then taking a return pass to score easily.

Nicholls scored with 3:05 left in the period, putting a 20-foot shot into the net from the left circle after taking a pass from Bob Carpenter, whose fake had taken McLean out of position.

After Dave Taylor scored, Carson got his third goal with 54 seconds left.

King Notes The Kings are 5-13-3 against the Canucks in the last 2 1/2 seasons. . . . Tim Tookey, assigned two weeks ago to the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn., twisted his right knee in a game Wednesday night against the Sherbrooke (Canada) Canadiens. Tookey, who had arthroscopic surgery on his knee Dec. 4, was sent to New Haven for conditioning purposes and was expected to rejoin the Kings this month. He will return to Los Angeles to have his knee examined. . . . Mike Allison, who scored a goal in Tuesday night’s game after missing five games with a groin injury, was scratched because of a stiff neck. . . . Mark Hardy returned to the lineup after missing two games because of the flu.