Kings, in Homestretch, Bear Down for Victory Over Maple Leafs, 6-4

While his players were rushing to prepare for a midnight flight to Chicago for the final game of this seemingly endless swing through North America, King Coach Robbie Ftorek was savoring his final minutes in Canada.

Ftorek was pleased with the penalty-killing late in the game that preserved the Kings’ 6-4 victory over the Maple Leafs Saturday night.

The Kings were up by just a goal, 5-4, in the third period when a hooking penalty against Steve Duchesne at 16:02 gave the Maple Leafs a power play. But the Kings killed that penalty, as they had done when John Tonelli was sent off for holding late in the second period.

Then Bernie Nicholls added a power-play empty-net goal, his second goal of the night, to seal the victory before a sellout of 16,382 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The victory assured the Kings of at least a split on this 6-game trip. They raised their record to 8-6 overall and 3-2 on the trip, with tonight’s game at Chicago remaining.

“We’re going to go into that game with the same intensity we showed tonight,” Ftorek said. “We’re looking to win that game, too.”

Saturday night’s game was so intense that the Kings’ Marty McSorley finally squared off against Toronto’s Brian Curran and threw a few punches.

McSorley explained with a shrug, “Well, you know, it had reached the point where enough was enough. I had to give the guys some confidence and show them that I would stand up for them and for me.”

It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. That wasn’t the highlight of McSorley’s night. The Kings scored 4 straight goals during the period, and McSorley had one of them.

“Our line tried to motivate the team,” McSorley said. “We’re supposed to stabilize the game and show that we can go out and take charge. But we’re very confident.

“We’re not going to come off the ice and say, ‘Well, we checked well and we’re happy.’ We want to score, too.”

Although McSorley is not playing on Wayne Gretzky’s line, which includes Luc Robitaille and Dave Taylor for now, he, Tonelli and Mike Krushelnyski aren’t conceding anything.

The Kings’ offense was alive and well, especially in that second-period stretch.

Toronto Coach John Brophy said, “That type of team has the firepower to do it to you.”

The Maple Leafs had taken a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Dan Daoust tucked the puck into the right corner of the Kings’ net. But with almost 6 minutes played, the Kings tied the score, 2-2, when Gretzky centered a pass to the front of the net so that defenseman Doug Crossman could knock it in. Just 26 seconds later, the Kings took a 3-2 lead when McSorley skated through the right circle and flipped a shot into the top of the net.

Less than 2 minutes later, Gretzky skated behind the goal and sent a pass out to the front of the net for Duchesne’s 5-footer (and Gretzky’s second assist). And Dale DeGray, a former Toronto player, helped give the Kings a 5-2 lead when he threaded a long shot from the right circle through traffic in front of the net and Nicholls deflected it in.

Then the Maple Leafs scored with a 2-man advantage. Bob Carpenter had been in the penalty box for just 15 seconds on his slashing penalty when Luc Robitaille joined him for holding. The Kings held off the Maple Leafs for 1:15 before two quick passes set up Mark Osborne’s quick, short shot that made it 5-3.

And then it became a question of defense.

Nicholls said, “For us to win the Stanley Cup, we have to get the goaltending and the defense. We have the offense to win. We have to work on defense. We can’t expect our goalie to win for us if we’re giving up 45 shots a game.”

Saturday night, the Kings gave up 30 shots, and Glenn Healy picked up his seventh victory.

During the first period, which ended with a 1-1 tie, it looked as if the game might be low-scoring. Carpenter scored first for the Kings on a pass that Nicholls slid through the crease to the left side of the net at 8:01. Toronto’s Derek Laxdal tied it up at 13:05.

But the Kings always seem to break the game open at some point.

Rick Lanz of the Maple Leafs said, “No. 99 hasn’t lost a step. If anything, he’s better. He creates a lot of havoc.

“I notice a difference in that team. That’s not the same L.A. Kings we saw last year.”

King Notes

The Kings will play the Blackhawks tonight at Chicago Stadium. The Blackhawks, who tied the North Stars at Minnesota, 5-5, Saturday night, are 4-9-2, fourth in the Norris Division. Last season, the Kings beat the Blackhawks twice at the Forum but lost at Chicago Stadium. Tonight’s game is the last game in the Kings’ 6-game trip.

King owner Bruce McNall, who joined the team in Toronto Friday afternoon, said he had talked to all of the players individually and also had a 3-hour meeting with Coach Robbie Ftorek in the aftermath of the controversy stirred up by a column in the Globe and Mail saying that the players were not happy with the coach. McNall concluded: “I think the frustration of being 3-6 in that stretch led to some complaining, but I still don’t believe anybody talked to (Al Strachan) directly. . . . It’s nothing that winning a few games won’t cure.” . . . McNall was all smiles after the victory Saturday night. It wasn’t a winning afternoon for McNall, though. His horse, Frankly Perfect, finished next-to-last in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf race. . . . Ftorek was hit by a deflected puck at the end of the Kings’ practice Saturday afternoon. The cut on his forehead might have needed stitches, but it was taped closed. When asked about the cut, he quipped, “No, nobody punched me out.”

Wayne Gretzky is 1 point short of 1,700 in his career. With his next point, he’ll join Gordie Howe and Marcel Dionne as the only players to reach that number. . . . Goalie Bob Janecyk has been sent back down to New Haven. Mark Fitzpatrick is making the trip to Chicago with the Kings.