Nordiques Silenced by Kings : Return of Defense, Goal by Gretzky Beat Quebec, 3-1

Wayne McBean’s slapshot after a face-off was airborne and closing in on the Quebec Nordiques’ goal when Wayne Gretzky knocked it into the net to give the Kings the lead in the second period Tuesday night.

A flashy goal by Gretzky. Officially, the winning goal. But, more important, for more than 24 minutes afterward, the Kings played defense and goalie Glenn Healy shut out the Nordiques.

The empty-net goal that Luc Robitaille added with 44 seconds to play, giving the Kings a 3-1 victory, was just a bonus.

Before a crowd of 15,399 at Le Colisee, the Kings made their visit to this picturesque Old World city a success with picturesque, old-style hockey.

Quite a turnaround from the shootout they lost in a wild, wide-open third period at Winnipeg, when they allowed 6 goals in the final 20 minutes.

“We’ve proven we can play good, defensive hockey,” said Healy, who stopped 10 shots in the third period. “We’ve also had nights when we have shown that we can open the gates, too. But if we’re going to do that, we’re going to have to score the goals.

“Personally, I don’t care which it is, as long as we win. I was glad to see that we were playing as a unit tonight. . . . The defense was standing guys up at the blue line. In the third period, we gave up one 3-on-2, but no 2-on-1s and no breakaways.”

Coach Robbie Ftorek was glad to see his players talking about defense, to see some people taking charge and to see the whole unit follow through on those fast-laid plans.

“We’re a better hockey team than all the goals we’ve been giving up would indicate,” Ftorek said. “It’s important to know that we can maintain a lead.”

Early, a lot of the defense was left up to Healy. Or, as McBean put it: “He was standing on his ear for us. In the first period, he really saved us.”

In the first period, Healy faced 12 shots and gave up his only goal, making some fine saves and getting lucky on a couple of shots, as the bulk of the action centered in front of him.

John Tonelli gave the Kings a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the game, flipping in a pass from Bernie Nicholls and beating goalie Bob Mason from about 15 feet. But Walt Poddubny beat Healy to tie it at 10:53, waiting at the left corner of the net for a pass across the crease from David Latta.

No one scored again until Gretzky’s goal with 4 minutes left in the second period.

“It was a great goal on his part,” McBean said. “It was in the air, and it takes great eye-hand coordination to do that. But, then, he’s known for his greatness.”

Bob Carpenter had won the face-off from Nordique rookie Joe Sakic to get the puck back to McBean. McBean said he was attempting to shoot the puck, not pass it.

“But you better believe I was glad to see Gretzky take that out of the air,” he said.

The Kings protected the one-goal lead the rest of the way, even after Nordique Coach Ron Lapointe pulled his goalie with just under a minute to play.

King Notes

The Kings will play tonight at Montreal in the fourth game of this six-game trip. Montreal is 5-7-1 and is coming off a 5-3 victory over Hartford Tuesday night. The Kings lost the only game they played at Montreal last season, when they were 1-2 overall against the Canadiens. The game will be televised, delayed, on Prime Ticket at 6 p.m. It also will be broadcast on KLAC.

Goalie Mark Fitzpatrick will join the club today after being called up from New Haven, where he was 6-3 with a goals-against average of 2.77 and 1 shutout. Right winger Paul Guay and defenseman Ken Baumgartner are being sent back down. King Coach Robbie Ftorek said that bringing up Fitzpatrick does not mean he lacks confidence in Glenn Healy. Ftorek said, “This has been our game plan since our meeting last June. We wanted him to start in the minor league and then bring him up for a while to see how he’s doing. If it works out that he gets to play, fine. If it doesn’t, fine. He’ll be with us until Monday, after the game at Chicago.” Fitzpatrick was the Kings’ second-round pick in the entry draft.