Gretzky, Kings Win First Round Against Lemieux, Penguins, 7-2

They packed the Forum Saturday night to see Mario Lemieux go against Wayne Gretzky: The greatest players in the game on the ice together, competing head to head.

And they saw Lemieux and Gretzky on the ice together. In bits and pieces.

Lemieux is still recovering from a sprained wrist, so he played sparingly. He played only on power plays in the first period, a little more than that in the second period and a little more still in the third period.

He scored on a power play in the third period and also had an assist; too little, too late.

Gretzky, as always, showed flashes of brilliance. But his official tally showed just an assist.

It was a fine hockey game that the Kings won, 7-2, over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it wasn’t a back-and-forth scoring battle of the stars.

The 16,005 fans who watched the game were still free to debate the relative greatness of the greats.

King fans know that Gretzky’s greatness is reflected in the team’s 11-6 record, and Lemieux noted that, too.

“The Kings have a lot more confidence,” he said. “Just having Gretzky on the team brings out the talent in the other players.”

Lemieux continues to lead the National Hockey League in scoring with 43 points on 19 goals and 24 assists. Gretzky has 36 points on 13 goals and 23 assists.

Lemieux missed 2 games after he sprained the wrist in a game Nov. 3 against Quebec, when he caught his right arm on the boards. But the scoring race goes on. It did last season when Gretzky missed 16 games with eye and knee injuries, and he doesn’t mention his injuries when asked about the fact that Lemieux passed him.

Gretzky had led the NHL in scoring 8 consecutive seasons before Lemieux won the scoring title last season with 168 points to Gretzky’s 149.

Gretzky mentions the scoring race only when asked about it. He’s more concerned with winning games, and he’s getting that done. The Kings have won 4 in a row, matching the streak with which they opened the season.

Pittsburgh Coach Gene Ubriaco, whose team fell behind, 3-0, less than halfway through the first period, said, “They caught us napping early and made the most of it.”

As for why Lemieux had played so little early and so much later in the game, Ubriaco said, “He had to realize he can play through this. It’s one of those things that is going to be there, and he’s got to play through it. . . . He told me he wanted to get back out there. I thought as the game went on, he started dancing again. I thought he shot the puck pretty well.”

Lemieux said his wrist is still sore, adding, “I can play with it. I’ll keep playing.”

King goalie Glenn Healy said he would be happy for Lemieux to get more ice time “in cities like Edmonton and Calgary.” Healy, who faced 33 shots from the Penguins, was 13 minutes 7 seconds away from his first shutout of the season when Lemieux took a pass from Paul Coffey and scored a power-play goal, cutting the Kings’ lead to 5-1.

Just 31 seconds later, Lemieux picked up his assist on a goal by Bob Errey. But 19 seconds after that, the Kings’ John Tonelli scored his second goal of the game, skating around the back of the net and tucking the puck past goalie Steve Guenette for a 6-2 lead.

Bernie Nicholls wrapped up the Kings’ scoring with an unassisted breakaway goal with less than 4 minutes to play.

But the Kings had the game well under control from the start, as the result of first-period goals by Mike Krushelnyski, Luc Robitaille and Tonelli.

Robitaille’s goal was really a work of art by Gretzky. He beat everyone to a loose puck and made a lightning-quick move to control it. He skated clear enough to make a perfect pass into the Penguins’ end that led Robitaille perfectly. It was up to Robitaille to catch up with the puck, which he did, and then it was open ice and a head-to-head contest with Guenette, which Robitaille won.

King Coach Robbie Ftorek called Tonelli’s goal, which was scored unassisted and short-handed through defenders, “real nice.”

He added: “One thing with John is you see so much joy when he scores a goal. He works and works. He plays very well and does all the little things well, too.”

Tonelli said: “Ftorek has put confidence in me, and I feel like I have to pay him back. I’m an emotional person, and I don’t mind playing my guts out when a guy has confidence in me.”

Steve Duchesne scored the Kings’ fourth goal in the second period, also unassisted. Bernie Nicholls made it 5-0 early in the third period with help from Bob Carpenter, who was bowling over Errey, who was bowling over Guenette. Errey and Guenette ended up in a heap inside the net, along with the puck.

Krushelnyski missed the last few minutes of the game getting stitches under his chin. He was in the middle of a fight that erupted around the Kings’ goal, but apparently he wasn’t a key combatant, because only the Kings’ Tim Watters (2 minutes for roughing) and the Penguins’ Dave Hannan (double minor for roughing) came away with penalties. Hannan was doing most of the swinging.

Healy, noting that the Penguins were after him all night long, said: “It was hunting season. I was kind of mad all night. I guess they create a lot of opportunities that way.”

But he wasn’t complaining after his ninth victory, the most in the NHL.

King Notes

Wayne Gretzky’s point-scoring streak went to 17 games, the longest in the league. . . . Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux had points in 12 consecutive games until he was held scoreless at Toronto Thursday night, playing only on the power play. . . . The Kings’ consecutive-game scoring streak went to 188, the longest in the league. . . . The sellout Saturday night was the 4th for the Kings this season. They had 5 all last season. . . . The Kings and the Penguins will play 2 more regular-season games, Dec. 14 in Pittsburgh and March 7 at the Forum. . . . Lemieux says he is “done talking” about his contract negotiations with the Penguins, which broke off after a 2-hour meeting Friday. Lemieux reportedly was offered an 8-year deal that was better than the 20-year, $20-million deal that he had turned down on Thursday. . . . King defenseman Dean Kennedy, who had suffered a concussion and cerebral bruise in the game Thursday night, attended the game Saturday but is expected to miss at least a week as the doctors put him through a few more precautionary tests.