Kings Feel Even Better After Rallying to Tie, 5-5

A disappointing regular season ended on a high note for the Kings, who overcame a three-goal, second-period deficit Sunday night in a 5-5 tie with the Edmonton Oilers.

The Kings, who will take a four-game unbeaten streak into the playoffs, could have won before a crowd of 17,107 at the Northlands Coliseum, but rookie John English missed an open-net shot with 1:21 left in overtime.

Still, the Kings were riding high and talking big after leaving the Oilers one point shy of a seventh straight 100-point season.

“This will give us some confidence,” Mike Allison said. “But I think it also makes the Flames realize they’re not going to run us out of the building. Hopefully, it will put a little bit of doubt in their minds.”

The Kings will meet the Flames, owners of the best record in the National Hockey League, in the first game of a best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series Wednesday night at Calgary.

The Kings beat the Flames twice last week, and on Sunday they got three more goals from Luc Robitaille, whose third hat trick of the season, along with an assist, left him as the team leader with 111 points.

Jimmy Carson, tied with Robitaille for the lead going into the game, was held without a point for the first time in 13 games.

“We never really talked about it, but it was a great rivalry between me and Jimmy,” said Robitaille, who established club records for a left wing with his point total and 58 assists.

Robitaille, though, wanted to talk about a togetherness that has developed among his teammates.

“Everybody has confidence in each other, and that makes a difference,” he said. “Even a little thing, like a fight or a scrap in the corner, everybody really jumps. And that shows that you care for your teammate.

“One time tonight, a few guys were pushing Mike Allison, and Jay Wells jumped in there. That wasn’t happening a month ago.”

Neither were the Kings rallying to earn points against quality opponents, as they did against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Robitaille, who had seven goals and six assists in the Kings’ last three games, started the comeback at 18:44 of the second period, positioning himself to the left of the net and banging in a pass from Bernie Nicholls, who took a pass in the slot from Phil Sykes, wheeled and slid a pretty pass to Robitaille.

“Bernie can hold the puck for so long that it really gives me time to get in position to score,” Robitaille said. “That play in the second period was unbelievable. I don’t think there’s too many guys in this league who could make that play.”

Sykes, who scored a first-period goal when his shot caromed into the net off the skate of Oiler forward Dave Hannan, made a nice play of his own at 4:44 of the third period.

Stationed in the slot and facing the opposite end of the ice, he used his stick to knock down a shot by teammate Steve Duchesne. As the puck hit the ice, Sykes took a backhanded swipe at it and blasted it past goaltender Grant Fuhr, pulling the Kings to within 5-4.

Robitaille tied it with 2:57 left, scoring his 53rd goal on a 40-foot shot from the top of the slot.

King goaltender Rollie Melanson made 5 of his 29 saves in overtime, but it was the Kings who had the best chance to win.

A shot from the point by Nicholls bounced straight back to a charging English on the right side. Fuhr had fallen to the ice, out of position. But English, called up only last Monday from the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn., shot wide of the net.

“I had a foot to put it in,” English said. “But I just rushed it. I should have buried it. I’ll dream about that one for a while.”

His teammates probably have forgotten it already.

Their minds are on the playoffs, and they’re brimming with confidence.

“No matter how many goals we’re down, we feel we have the ability to come back,” Melanson said. “We just keep plugging away and plugging away, and we show patience. We don’t panic.”

And Coach Robbie Ftorek said: “There’s no question we feel pretty good about ourselves.”

King Notes

The Kings finished with a 30-42-8 record, including a record of 11-24-5 on the road and a record of 1-33-4 in games in which they trailed going into the third period. They gave up a league-high 359 goals, but scored 318, more than all but four other teams. . . . The Kings will practice today at the Northlands Coliseum before making the three-hour bus trip to Calgary. After two games at Calgary, their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series against the Flames will move to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4 Saturday and Sunday nights at the Forum. . . . The Kings made it through a second consecutive season without being shut out. They have not been shut out since March 12, 1986, a streak of 172 games. . . . Against the five teams that did not make the playoffs, the Kings were 11-6-3, earning 25 of their 68 points.

Although he missed 16 games with knee and eye injures, Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers led the NHL in assists for the ninth consecutive season. But Gretzky, whose second-period assist Sunday was his 109th, finished the season with a career-low 40 goals. And his 149 points, which left him second in the scoring race behind Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, represented his lowest production since 1979-80, when he had 137 in his first NHL season. . . . Grant Fuhr made his 75th appearance, an NHL record for a goaltender. Fuhr played almost 90% of a possible 4,866 minutes for the Oilers and led the NHL with 40 victories. . . . The Oilers, who will play the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs, are 14-0 against the Jets in the playoffs.