Flyers Score Two Goals in Final 15 Seconds and Beat Kings, 8-6

Those who prefer poetry on ice to the more primitive fare provided by the National Hockey League would have been well advised Saturday night to stay home and watch the Olympic figure skating competition on TV.

At the Forum, though, the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers were plenty entertaining in their own right in a wild game won by the Flyers, 8-6, before a capacity crowd of 16,005.

The Flyers, unbeaten in their last six games, scored twice in the last 15 seconds for their fourth straight victory.

Rick Tocchet, in the right corner, passed through the slot to Scott Mellanby, who scored the game-winning goal on an uncontested 25-foot shot from the left circle with 15 seconds left.

Tocchet then scored his fourth goal of the game into an empty net with one second remaining.

Tocchet, a fourth-year player who had never had a hat trick before last Sunday, has two in three games and has scored 11 goals in five games.

He is only the second Flyer to score four goals in a regular-season game.

The Flyers, of course, usually win with defense and goaltending.

So, for the Kings, who have beaten the Flyers only five times in their last 48 meetings, it was an especially disheartening loss. They overcame deficits of 3-2, 5-4 and 6-5, catching the Flyers, 6-6, on a goal by Ken Hammond with 6:14 left.

“It’s a back-breaker,” goaltender Glenn Healy said of the loss. “We fought back, we played hard. It’s frustrating for me. It’s frustrating for everybody.”

Healy, who didn’t find out until after pregame warmups that he would be in the nets because of a knee injury to Rollie Melanson, lost his third straight start, but he really couldn’t be faulted on the game-winning shot.

“Tocchet made a great pass over to Mellanby,” Hammond said. “Glenn had no chance on that.”

Said Healy: “When they got the puck along the boards, I thought we might be in for a little trouble, but I really didn’t anticipate anyone being that open.”

Hammond and Dave Taylor both moved to cover Brian Propp, leaving Mellanby all alone.

The Kings led, 4-3, after a wide-open first period in which they took a 2-0 lead, gave up three goals in 2 minutes 24 seconds and then scored twice in 31 seconds to reclaim the lead.

Craig Laughlin opened the scoring, putting a back-handed shot through the legs of Flyer goaltender Ron Hextall.

Ron Duguay, making his debut with the Kings after being acquired Monday in a trade that sent Mark Hardy to the New York Rangers, scored at 9:03 off a pass from Bernie Nicholls.

The Flyers, who scored seven third-period goals Tuesday night in an 11-6 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, then torched the Kings over a 2 1/2-minute span to overcome the deficit.

After taking a centering pass that deflected off the stick of King defenseman Tom Laidlaw, Mellanby scored from the bottom of the right circle.

Just 31 seconds later, Mark Howe scored on a 40-foot shot from the left point after Peter Zezel made a nice move along the left side, skated around Laidlaw and left the puck for Howe.

Tocchet gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead, redirecting a shot by Howe.

Lyle Phair pulled the Kings even with a spectacular goal, swiping at the puck as he fell into a pile in front of the Flyer net and sliding it past Hextall.

Luc Robitaille, held without a point in two previous games against the Flyers this season, ended his drought against the Flyers only 31 seconds later, banging a rebound off Hextall’s chest and into the net. The goal was Robitaille’s 40th and the Kings led, 4-3.

Hextall and the Flyers held them scoreless in the second period, though, and the Flyers reclaimed the lead on goals by Tocchet and Derrick Smith.

Phair scored again, this time without leaving his feet, taking a pass from Jimmy Carson to pull the Kings even at 5:31 of the third period.

Tocchet scored his third goal with 12:51 left, taking a carom of a shot by Kjell Samuelsson in the left circle and beating Healy to the short side.

King Notes

The sellout was the Kings’ third of the season. . . . The Kings play the Vancouver Canucks tonight at Vancouver, where they are 0-6-2 since last winning there on Jan. 17, 1986. In the last three seasons, the Kings are 5-13-3 against the Canucks, including a 2-3 record this season. The Kings, who end their two-game trip Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers, play the Canucks three times in their next eight games. Vancouver has lost three straight games and four of five. . . . Jay Wells, who has missed eight games with a groin injury, will not make the trip. . . . Mark Hardy, traded Monday to the New York Rangers in the deal that brought Ron Duguay to the Kings, told Newsday: “Junior (hockey) in Montreal is a lot bigger than the NHL is in Los Angeles.” . . . Obtained in trades this season, Duguay, Mike Allison and Craig Laughlin all scored goals in their debuts with the Kings. . . . Bernie Nicholls has landed a role in a movie, “Singles,” which is being shot in Los Angeles. Nicholls plays the role of a security guard. . . . The Kings are 0-30-2 in games in which they’ve trailed entering the third period. . . . The Kings are 5-37-6 in their last 48 games against the Flyers. They were 0-3 this season. . . . The Flyers are 14-4-2 in their last 20 road games.