Taylor’s Goal in Final Seconds Lifts Kings to 6-5 Overtime Win

Dave Taylor was skating toward the Calgary goal when Bernie Nicholls fired a pass in his direction from the right side. Taylor was checked and knocked off balance just as he reached out with his stick to take the pass, and the next thing he knew, he was in a pileup in the Flames’ net, along with goalie Rick Wamsley and the puck.

While the Flames protested vehemently that the puck was kicked in, the Kings’ goal went on the board.

Score that a game-winning goal for Taylor and an assist for Nicholls with 23 seconds left in overtime. Credit the Kings with a 6-5 victory Saturday night at the Forum. It was wild and crazy, and it also was the Kings’ second win in two games, giving the 13,474 fans reason to celebrate.

Taylor thought that the puck might have deflected off his skate, but he said he didn’t purposely kick it in.

“Bernie said it went off me, maybe off a knee pad, and into the net,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t sure what happened. I was being mobbed.”

Calgary Coach Terry Crisp said, “The guy came wide and around the net, and I don’t know--was the puck in first or was the guy in first? I can’t say. There’s no sense in me trying to pass judgment on that.”

But have a little sympathy for Wamsley, losing a game on a goal like that.

In all, it was a long night for goalies. The Kings’ Glenn Healy faced 47 shots before getting his first win of the season. Twice he seemed to have some breathing room with a 2-goal lead, and twice the Kings let those leads get away, leaving him under heavy fire.

“I guess that’s what they pay me for,” Healy said. “The referee had a lot to do with it. We were short-handed, and Calgary’s power play had a lot of chances.”

It wasn’t a work of art, but it was a victory. The Kings haven’t gotten off to a 2-0 start since the 1977-78 season.

King Coach Robbie Ftorek said, “If we can play an ugly game and win, that’s great. You just hope to improve for the next game. . . . It’s important for the whole team to come back and win these kinds of games.”

Considering that the Kings had only 23 shots on goal, it’s amazing that they did win.

The Flames’ relentless bombardment finally started to get to Healy in the third period. He gave up a goal to Tim Hunter that tied the score, 3-3, early in the period, then was briefly given a lead again when Bob Carpenter and Wayne Gretzky scored. But Healy yielded 2 quick goals in the final minutes that tied it at 5-5 and sent the game into overtime.

Gretzky, playing his second game as a King, finished with 4 points on 2 goals and 2 assists. He also had 4 points in his first game, on 1 goal and 3 assists.

Gretzky had appeared to save the day earlier, when he scored a short-handed goal at 11:14 that put the Kings up, 5-3.

Skating the length of the ice with Flame defenseman Al MacInnis in his face, Gretzky angled in on Wamsley from the right side, shook MacInnis at the last second and fired the puck past Wamsley, who was looking right at him.

Gretzky knows these Flames well. Calgary, which had the best regular-season record in the National Hockey League last year, is a strong rival of the Edmonton Oilers, the team with which Gretzky spent his entire NHL career until he was traded to the Kings in August.

The goal was a dazzling effort, but it didn’t put the game away.

Joe Mullen brought the Flames within a goal at 14:09 when he scored through traffic in front of Healy, and Jiri Hrdina scored 35 seconds later to tie it at 5-5, slapping a hard shot from the right circle.

It was initiation by fire for Healy, who did not start the Kings’ opener against Detroit. Rollie Melanson, who allowed just two goals in that game, was out Saturday with sprained ligaments in his left knee. He was injured in a pileup in front of the goal during the second period of the game against the Red Wings. Pete Demers, the Kings’ trainer, said Melanson’s status will be evaluated day to day after this weekend.

Healy faced 14 shots in the third period alone. The total of 47 shots were not even the most he has ever faced--he faced 49 in a game he won at Calgary last April.

Healy withstood the Flames’ 13 shots in the first period, giving up 1 goal early but holding strong during a furious attack when the Flames had a 2-man advantage midway through the period. It got worse in the second period, when Healy had to face 19 more shots and let 1 sneak past him.

The Kings took a 2-1 lead in the first period on goals by Tim Tookey and Gretzky. They added a goal by Luc Robitaille in the second period and, incredibly, emerged from the period with a 3-2 lead despite taking just 2 shots on goal to the Flames’ 19.

King Notes

Between the first and second periods Saturday night, Wayne Gretzky and King owner Bruce McNall presented to a representative of the hockey Hall of Fame the jersey that Gretzky wore, the stick that he used and the puck with which he scored his first goal for the Kings. . . . The Kings were 1-1 against Calgary in the exhibition season. They lost at Sacramento and won in overtime at the Forum. . . . The Kings extended their consecutive-game scoring streak to 173 games. . . . The Kings and the Flames will play seven more times in the regular season.