Montreal Slips By the Kings : Report Claims L.A. Players Are Upset With Ftorek

As if he wasn’t miserable enough after a 5-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night in the midst of one of the Kings’ longest trips of the season, Coach Robbie Ftorek had to respond to a report that the team is counting the days until he is fired.

Surrounded by reporters, Ftorek fielded questions about a newspaper column that criticized him for, among other things, the lack of Wayne Gretzky’s ice time, making the players go bowling in Winnipeg and his choice of sweaters.

According to The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, the Kings are not happy with their coach, but none of the players were directly quoted. Ftorek gave the standard reply, claiming that he doesn’t read the newspapers. “I listen to the players,” Ftorek said. “Those are the only people who matter.”

And then, Gretzky was asked about the column, which was written by Al Strachan, a reporter from Toronto whom Gretzky has known for years.

Gretzky wasn’t quoted in the column, and he told wave after wave of reporters Wednesday night: “My only comment on that is that you would have to ask Mr. (Bruce) McNall (the Kings’ owner.) I don’t interfere with what management does. . . . I’m just a player.

“I think Robbie’s a good coach. I like Robbie. There’s a lot of pressure on everyone. I think everyone goes through growing pains.”

As for his ice time? “What a lot of people don’t understand is that in Edmonton, over 80 games, I didn’t play 30 minutes a game. We played 4 lines and I averaged about 19. I didn’t play 28 or 30 minutes a game until the playoffs.”

After the game, the players were downplaying the story and offering no criticism of Ftorek.

But at least one player apparently wasn’t happy about his ice time.

Luc Robitaille threw a large cooler full of ice against a wall near the locker-room door in anger after the game. The only thing he would say is, “The coach must have his reasons.” Robitaille was apparently referring to the final minute of play when the Kings pulled their goalie but Ftorek did not send Robitaille out on the ice.

The criticism of Ftorek is not surprising. Given that Gretzky ranks among the all-time greats of the game, and given that he did assist on all 3 of the Kings’ goals Wednesday night, it’s easy to understand why the coach is constantly pressured to play Gretzky more.

Gretzky’s quick reaction on the play that gave the Kings their first goal had the capacity crowd of 17,596 gasping in admiration.

Gretzky was in the vicinity when Claude Lemieux’s pass to Petr Svoboda slid wide. Before Svoboda could chase down the puck, Gretzky had passed him and pounced on it and was skating across clear ice toward Canadien goalie Patrick Roy.

Bernie Nicholls saw Gretzky going to the puck, headed toward the Canadiens’ goal, picked up a pass from Gretzky and gave the Kings a 1-0 lead 7:52 into the second period.

Lemieux’s frustration was evident soon after when he downed King defenseman Tim Watters with a stick to the neck that earned him a game misconduct and gave the Kings a 5-minute power play.

And what did the Kings do with that 5-minute power play? They gave up a short-handed goal to Craig Ludwig just 18 seconds later.

Dave Taylor did manage to give the Kings a goal with 1:18 left in the power play, putting the Kings up, 2-1.

Nicholls set that one up with a mighty slapshot that bounced off the glass behind the goal and back to the front of the net. Roy sprawled in front of the net, but the puck was just sitting there for Taylor, who helped it into the net.

“I thought it hit the goalie in the back of the leg,” Taylor said. “In fact, I thought it might have gone in, then. But when I saw that he didn’t know where it was, I went after it.”

But before the period was out, Ryan Walter evened it for the Canadiens, taking a shot from the top of the left circle that found its way through traffic for a goal. Another long shot, launched by Stephane Richer just before he reached the Kings’ blue line early in the third period, gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead.

Doug Crossman of the Kings tied it, 3-3, at 10:24, taking a pass from Gretzky off the boards on the left side and threading in the shot.

But Bobby Smith scored the winner for the Canadiens just 29 seconds later, during a scramble in front of the Kings’ net, and Guy Carbonneau added the final goal on the Kings’ empty net with just 1 second left in the game.

Ftorek said he didn’t think his team was bothered by the change of pace forced by the deliberate, defensive-minded Canadiens.

“We’re capable of playing either way,” Ftorek said.

In fact, Ftorek and King goalie Glenn Healy, who faced 27 shots, agreed that it was a good game and a good effort.

“They were all over us. They’re a tight defensive team, and that might have frustrated our scorers a little . . . but I thought all 20 guys played hard,” Healy said.

The Kings (7-6) play Saturday night at Toronto.

Taylor says the players are not demoralized. “We’re a little disappointed that we’re not getting more scoring out of our power play. . . .

“But overall, I think the mood is pretty good on our club. We feel like we played pretty well tonight and maybe we deserved to win.”

King Notes

The new Montreal Forum (a refurbishment of the 1924 building) opened 20 years ago, on Nov. 2, 1968, with a game that the Montreal Canadiens won, 2-1, over Detroit. The goalie for Montreal that day was King General Manager Rogie Vachon. . . . It’s possible that goalie Bob Janecyk will play some in Toronto before being sent down to New Haven next Monday. But, King Coach Robbie Ftorek again said that if Janecyk plays it will be for his benefit and not because of a lack of confidence in goalie Glenn Healy. Ftorek said: “I don’t feel we have a problem in the nets.”