Dynamo Riga Proves Too Much for Kings, ‘Coach’ McNall, 5-3

Owner Bruce McNall was behind the Kings’ bench for the game against the Soviet team Saturday night, wearing a sweater proclaiming him, “Coach.”

Of course, when they presented him with the chance to coach the team in this exhibition game, they expected it to be a pleasant experience. The Kings were supposed to beat Dynamo Riga.

The big surprise was that Dynamo Riga defeated the Kings, 5-3, before a crowd of 11,490 at the Forum.

“The coaches wanted me to see what it was like behind the bench,” McNall said. “I found out that it’s confusing. It’s upsetting. I don’t know how they do it. . . . It was interesting. But I guess I did something wrong. Anyway, they told me that’s the last time I coach.

“It’s pretty humiliating for me to be canned after my coaching debut.”

It was pretty humiliating for the Kings to lose to Dynamo Riga, a young team that was playing its fourth game in 5 days after traveling from Calgary to Edmonton to Vancouver to Los Angeles.

Dynamo Riga, the weaker of the two Soviet teams making a tour of the National Hockey League, had been losing ground with every game. The visitors opened with a 2-2 tie at Calgary, lost at Edmonton, 2-1, then lost at Vancouver, 6-1.

But against the Kings, they jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Wayne McBean and Wayne Gretzky narrowed the gap with third-period goals.

Coach Robbie Ftorek of the Kings said: “We weren’t trying to make light of this game by asking Bruce to coach, but we thought it would be a good time to let him see what happens during a game.

“We might have given the impression that this game was not important to us, but it’s only not important until you step on the ice. Then you want to win.

“We have three big (Smythe Division) games coming up, and we wanted to play well.

“Before the third period, we asked the guys to go out and try to win the period to put us in a good frame of mind for going to Calgary, and they did that,” Ftorek said.

The Kings won the final period, 2-0.

But that was after the Soviets won the first, 2-1, and the second, 3-0.

Dynamo Riga Coach Vladimir Yurzinov said: “I am satisfied with how my team played tonight. It was a very important game for our team from a psychological point of view. If we had lost this game, it would have put us in a difficult position.”

Asked about the difference between the 2 teams, Yurzinov said: “The L.A. Kings were not fast tonight. The difference in their speed and ours was just about the same difference as between us and Vancouver.”

The Soviets struck for 2 quick goals in the first period.

On the first goal, Anatoli Semenov put his stick on the ice to deflect a pass, which sent the puck flying over goalie Mark Fitzpatrick’s left shoulder at 14:38.

Andrei Lomakin got an unassisted goal at 15:31 when Fitzpatrick apparently thought he had made the stop, but the puck had another couple of inches of momentum. It glanced off his stick and into the corner of the goal .

Bernie Nicholls scored the first goal for the Kings at 16:26 of the first period, a wrist shot from the left circle.

The Soviets took a 3-1 lead in the second period, taking advantage of the power play after Mike Krushelnyski was called for hooking. Sergei Selyanin lifted a left-handed slap shot over the outstretched glove of Fitzpatrick at 6:47.

The Soviets went ahead, 4-1, when Alexi Frolikov picked up a loose puck, turned and fired from 40 feet away. Dynamo Riga made it 5-1 when Alexander Smirnov sent the puck from the blue line, through traffic, and past Fitzpatrick.

Left wing Bob Carpenter of the Kings suffered a bruised right wrist early in the third period and was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center for X-rays.