Goalie Fitzpatrick Helps Kings Come Back to Tie

Isn’t it about time to tell Mark Fitzpatrick it’s safe to rent an apartment? Or should he continue to rely upon the kindness of the Gretzkys, who have taken him in while the Kings decide whether he should play in the National Hockey League or the American Hockey League?

Thursday night, he looked like a keeper.

Fitzpatrick, the Kings’ 20-year-old goalie who was called up from the New Haven Nighthawks for the second time this season on Nov. 20, took over in relief of Glenn Healy and helped the Kings get a 5-5 tie with the Winnipeg Jets before a crowd of 12,111 Thursday night at the Forum.

It was the first tie of the season for the Kings, who were playing their second straight overtime game against the Jets. Tuesday night at the Forum, the Jets won, 5-4, in overtime. The Kings still have never won an overtime game against Winnipeg.

The Kings’ record went to 18-11-1. The Jets, tied for last place in the Smythe Division, have a record of 11-9-5.

Fitzpatrick took to the ice at the start of the second period with the Kings down, 4-1, and he gave up a quick goal to make it 5-1 just in time for the Kings’ big comeback. Four straight goals by the Kings sent the game into overtime.

In a rather apologetic tone, Fitzpatrick explained that he’s not used to coming into a game off the bench.

“I’m just not used to that, and I wasn’t really 100% on the first goal,” he said. “You spend all day thinking you’re not going to play and you come to the rink thinking you’re not going to play, so when you have to just go in, it’s kind of tough to do.

“You try to keep your head in the game when you’re on the bench, but it’s not the same. After the third goal, (Coach) Robbie (Ftorek) told me to get ready.”

There had been no reason to think things would get any better with Healy in goal. It was the first time this season that the Kings had pulled the starting goalie on a coach’s decision.

On Nov. 15, against Vancouver, Healy had been relieved by Bob Janecyk, but that was because Healy had suffered a cut over his eye that needed stitches. He came back to finish the game.

Ftorek was not available for comment on the goalie change after the game. He sent Bryan Maxwell, another coach on the King staff, to meet the media. Asked why he had been designated, Maxwell shrugged and said, “Robbie told me it was my turn.”

Another coach’s decision? “Yeah,” Maxwell agreed, laughing. “You could call it that.”

The decision on Fitzpatrick turned out to be a good one. In the 45 minutes that he played, Fitzpatrick (3-1-1) faced 22 shots and gave up only the 1 goal. That was 6:07 after he took over, when Fredrik Olasson skated up the right side and slapped a shot from the right circle to give the Jets a 5-1 lead.

Just when it was looking like a good time for the Kings to get out of town for their 5-game trip by way of the back door, the Kings got 3 goals in a span of 4 minutes 27 seconds.

The tying goal was scored by Wayne Gretzky just 39 seconds into the third period.

With a goal and 3 assists, Gretzky tied Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh for the scoring lead in the National Hockey League. They each have 70 points.

Gretzky was busy during the 3-goal stretch.

Mike Allison took a pass from Gretzky and scored from the left side at 7:36; Bernie Nicholls scored on the power play at 10:22 after Gretzky passed to Luc Robitaille, who passed the puck on to Nicholls, and John Tonelli (who had missed Tuesday’s game because of the flu) scored his second goal of the night at 12:03 when he put in his own rebound after a first attempt on the rebound of a shot by Gretzky.

Gretzky tied it on a give-and-go, passing the puck to Allison and then getting the pass back from Allison for the shot.

In the period that he played, Healy faced 14 shots and gave up 4 goals.

Healy had yielded a goal on the first shot he faced, just 38 seconds into the game. That goal was credited to Iain Duncan. John Tonelli evened the score for the Kings at 2:53. But in quick succession defenseman Dave Ellett scored on a power play, lifting an unassisted goal over Healy’s glove, and Brent Ashton slapped a shot from the left circle past Healy’s reach.

That made 3 goals in the first 6:19 of the game.

The Jets’ fourth goal, at 15:39, was a shorthanded goal that Gretzky took pretty hard. Gretzky lost the puck to Dave Hunter and then was unable to catch him from behind as he skated right at Healy for the unassisted goal.

Jet Coach Dan Maloney said: “Well, you got a 5-1 lead and you let a team come back and tie you, to me, that’s no thrill. We had a team down and out and we let them back in. Give L.A. credit. They worked really hard and created a lot of good opportunities.

“But we let them back in the hockey game. Any time you have a 5-1 lead, no matter where you are on the road, any building, you should walk out of there with 2 points.”

King Notes

Defenseman Ken Baumgartner was assigned to the Kings’ affiliate in New Haven, Conn., for the second time this season. . . . The Kings will leave today on a 5-game trip. . . . In between their Saturday night game against the Islanders and their Monday night game against the Rangers, the Kings will practice Sunday on the Lasker Rink in New York’s Central Park to benefit the “Hockey in Harlem” program that was created by Pat Hickey, New Haven Nighthawks director of operations. The program is part of New York’s Upward Fund Afterschool program. The Nighthawks will skate with the Kings Sunday. Youngsters who participate in the hockey program will join the players on the ice after the practice for instruction. . . . Center Wayne Gretzky and left wing Luc Robitaille lead the fan voting for their positions in the Campbell Conference. The other leaders are goalie Grant Fuhr of Edmonton, right wing Jari Kurri of Edmonton, and defensemen Kevin Lowe of Edmonton and Gary Suter of Calgary.