Kings Get Egg on Their Faces in 7-6 Overtime Loss to Montreal

The chicken came before the egg Saturday night at the Forum, where a man threw a live chicken onto the ice during the first period of a game between the Kings and the Montreal Canadiens.

The egg was laid by the Kings, who lost in overtime, 7-6, after overcoming a three-goal deficit, blowing a third-period lead and then sending the game into overtime on a goal by Bernie Nicholls with 2:27 left in regulation.

Stephane Richer scored his fourth goal of the game and 44th of the season with 3:09 left in overtime, giving the Canadiens their eighth straight victory, the longest winning streak in the National Hockey League this season.

Richer brought the puck down the left side on a 2-on-1 breakaway with Brian Skrudland, stopped and blasted a 40-foot slap shot past a sprawling Tom Laidlaw, the lone defender back, and goaltender Rollie Melanson.

“I wanted to take a good shot and when I saw the defenseman go down, I shot right away,” Richer said.

Said Laidlaw: “I know Richer has a real good shot, but I’d rather have a guy shooting from the outside than a guy shooting from right down the slot.

“I think he’s on a roll right now and he’s got a lot of confidence in himself. And he can shoot the puck 100 m.p.h.”

It was the first overtime victory of the season for the Canadiens, whose 38-20-10 record, best in the NHL, includes a 1-2-10 record in overtime.

The defeat was the third in four games for the Kings, who lost a similar game last week to the Philadelphia Flyers, 8-6, giving up two goals in the final 15 seconds.

“We had some problems early, but the guys fought back,” Coach Robbie Ftorek of the Kings said. “We just weren’t able to finish them off.”

The Canadiens, who haven’t lost since Feb. 15, built a 4-1 lead on their first eight shots.

Paul Fenton tapped in a rebound to give the Kings a 1-0 lead just 1 minute 34 seconds into the game, but 48 seconds later, Richer pulled the Canadiens even, stealing the puck from King defenseman Ken Hammond and scoring from the top of the slot.

Midway through the period, the Canadiens burned the Kings for three goals in 73 seconds.

Richer, whose hat trick was his first of the season, scored again, taking a pass from Larry Robinson and beating Melanson with a 55-foot shot from the left point.

Eight seconds later, Claude Lemieux scored from the right circle, firing a shot that ricocheted off Melanson’s stick and into the net.

Bob Gainey made it 4-1 with 7:57 left in the period, taking a pass from the right corner by Guy Carbonneau and scoring from close range by sliding the puck under Melanson’s right leg.

Ftorek called time out, the Kings survived the rest of the period and then dominated the second.

“We played right into their hands in the second and just opened everything up,” Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson said. “As a result, they had more chances to score than we did.”

Goals by Hammond, who scored on a 30-foot shot from the top of the slot, and Nicholls, who scored a power-play goal from about 40 feet out, got the Kings close in the first 4:14.

A pair of goals by Steve Duchesne wiped out the deficit altogether and put the Kings ahead, 5-4.

Duchesne, who scored only one goal in his previous 24 games, threaded a shot from the right circle into the upper right corner of the net with 9:43 remaining in the period.

With 1:18 left, Duchesne took a pass from Jim Fox, who had a season-high three assists, and scored on a 40-foot shot from the right point, beating goaltender Brian Hayward to the glove side.

An angry Hayward, who won his previous six starts, slammed his stick to the ice and, apparently believing that the Kings interfered with him, barked at referee Ron Hoggarth, drawing an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.

At the end of the period, Coach Jean Perron gave Hayward the rest of the night off, replacing him in goal for the third period with Patrick Roy.

The Canadiens then got goals from Richer at 11:38 and Gainey at 14:33 to open a 6-5 lead, but lost it when Nicholls scored on a rebound with 2:27 left.

King Notes

General Manager Rogie Vachon, who said the Mark Hardy-Ron Duguay trade two weeks ago would not be the last deal he’d make before the trading deadline, is running out of time. The deadline is Tuesday at noon. “A lot of people are interested in some of our guys, and we are interested in making some changes to improve our team down the stretch, but we’re not going to sell the farm,” Vachon said. However, Vachon also said: “We’re getting to the point where we’re going to have to move some of these guys who have been here too long and go with young guys, and try to change the face of our team. We’ve never won with these people, so what are we waiting for?” A lot of fans have asked the same question.

The unidentified man who threw the live chicken onto the ice in the first period was arrested by police, who wouldn’t comment other than to say the man would be booked for misdemeanor cruelty to animals and malicious mischief. An usher who asked not to be identified said the man tried several times previously to do the same thing.