Kings’ Defense Lets Melanson and Ftorek Rest During 3-0 Win

If Coach Robbie Ftorek of the Kings picked up good vibrations Thursday night from a three-goal loss to the St. Louis Blues, he must have been positively swept away Saturday night by a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Well, not exactly.

When reporters approached him after the game, he gestured toward assistant coach Bryan Maxwell, sitting nearby, and said: “You’re talking to the wrong guy. He coached the game.”

Ftorek said he never had a “good feel” for the game, that he spent a restless night Friday, so he decided to assume only a supporting role to Maxwell as the Kings dominated the lowly Maple Leafs to the point that goaltender Rollie Melanson was rarely called on to make a big save.

“I’ve said all along, it doesn’t matter who’s standing behind the 20 (players), it’s what the 20 in front of you do,” Maxwell said. “And they played great tonight.”

Melanson, gaining his second shutout in three weeks, faced only 21 shots as the Kings pressured the Maple Leafs offensively and defensively, scoring three power-play goals in the second period and keeping the puck in the Maple Leafs’ zone most of the night.

“It was probably one of our better games all year for taking care of the slot and not giving up outnumbered attacks,” said Melanson, who was called on to stop 39 shots in a 5-0 win Jan. 30 over the Minnesota North Stars.

The Maple Leafs have struggled in the last two months, but they nevertheless had given the Kings problems this season, overcoming 5-1 and 6-2 deficits to earn a 6-6 tie at Toronto Nov. 21 and beating the Kings last month, 5-2.

They ended a club-record 15-game winless streak with the victory Jan. 27 at Toronto, but that was their only win in 22 games before the All-Star break two weeks ago.

The long period of futility led to the firing Feb. 7 of General Manager Gerry McNamara, who said at one point last year during the Maple Leafs’ seventh straight losing season: “Other than won-loss record, we’re right on target.”

Owner Harold Ballard, felled by a heart attack Jan. 3, obviously believed otherwise.

The cantankerous Ballard, 84, returned to work with a vengeance Feb. 6 after spending more than a month recuperating in Florida.

He said the team would be run by committee the rest of the season.

Coach John Brophy, who suggested trades that McNamara refused to make and who generally disagreed with the former general manager, assumed primary power, with assistant general manager Gord Stellick and scout Dick Duff providing assistance.

Ballard, though, remains in charge.

“The main thing is harmony,” he said at the time of McNamara’s firing. “I can’t have the manager and the coach sitting down at opposite ends of the table fighting. The guys now might be right, but that’s debatable. The field is open. Nobody’s job is guaranteed. This is survival of the fittest.”

In their first five games after the All-Star break, the Leafs were 3-1-1.

A 5-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Friday night was their first on the road since Dec. 23 and ended an 11-game road winless streak.

But, against the Kings, they came out without much spark.

“Four guys played for me tonight,” Brophy said. “Who are you going to beat doing that? Nobody.”

In a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs were outshot, 20-6.

But goaltender Ken Wregget, making his eighth straight start, was brilliant. Wregget, who stopped 32 shots Friday night against the Canucks, stopped 17 against the Kings in the first 12 minutes.

Jimmy Carson finally beat him at 1:25 of the second period, scoring his 41st goal on a rebound of a shot by Tom Laidlaw. The goal, scored with Toronto’s Al Secord in the penalty box for holding former teammate Mike Allison, ended an 0-for-18 power-play drought for the Kings, who hadn’t scored during a manpower advantage in their previous three games.

Bernie Nicholls made it 2-0 at 7:36, scoring on a 45-foot shot from the right point after the Maple Leafs had been penalized for having too many men on the ice.

Dave Taylor, whose assist on Carson’s goal was the 500th of his National Hockey League career, added a third power-play goal for the Kings at 14:45, redirecting a shot by Nicholls.

King Notes

Cap Raeder, head coach at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., will not join the Kings’ coaching staff until next season, General Manager Rogie Vachon said Saturday night. The Kings announced this week that Raeder would join the staff at the end of the college hockey season, but Raeder said at a press conference Thursday at Clarkson that he wouldn’t join the Kings until Aug. 1. . . . Larry Playfair left the ice and took 10 stitches in his left eyelid after being cut in a second-period fight with Toronto’s Todd Gill, who had leveled Luc Robitaille with a check. Toronto’s Tom Terrion was ejected for joining the fight. . . . Toronto goaltender Jeff Reese, whose victory over the Kings Jan. 27 was the first of his National Hockey League career, has not started since because of a groin injury. . . . Jay Wells missed his sixth straight game with a groin injury. . . . The Kings’ booster club will play host to a skate with the team Monday night at the Culver City Ice Rink. Admission is $5.