Gretzky’s Four Assists Help Kings Overcome Oilers in Overtime, 5-4

Wayne Gretzky, the most famous former Edmonton Oiler of all, and Mike Krushelnyski, who also became a King last August in The Trade, teamed up to beat their former teammates in overtime Tuesday night at the Forum.

Gretzky, who had four assists, took the puck from John Tonelli behind the Oiler net and played with it for a second or so, holding it just long enough to bring Oiler goaltender Bill Ranford over to the side.

Then he centered the puck to Krushelnyski, and Krushelnyski gave the Kings their 5-4 victory on the power-play goal at 2:20 of the overtime.

Smiling after the victory that was celebrated by Kings and movie stars alike in the Kings’ dressing room, Krushelnyski said: “He has to worry about Gretz when he has the puck back there like that. But if Billy cheats and goes to cover Gretz, then Gretz gives it to me. Either way . . . “

The victory, their first since Dec. 23 at Vancouver, kept the Kings in second place in the Smythe Division.

It also was the Kings’ first victory of the season over the Edmonton Oilers, the defending Stanley Cup champions who had seemed to unnerve The Great One in their 2 earlier meetings.

“I was a lot more relaxed tonight,” Gretzky said. “I felt a lot better. Sure, it’s tough for me to play this team. But I think it’s tough for them to play me, too.”

The Kings had been outshot in their 10 previous games, but they outshot the Oilers, 33-17.

“I’m just happy to win because this is a great team we played tonight,” Gretzky said. “When the chips are down, they’re still the toughest team in hockey to beat. They play well under pressure.”

But, then, so did the Kings.

Marty McSorley, another former Oiler involved in the Gretzky trade, was looking like the Kings’ surprise hero in the third period when he gave them a 4-3 lead at 13:09 of regulation.

McSorley took a centering pass from Luc Robitaille and slapped it past Ranford, who was playing in place of Grant Fuhr.

It was the first game for McSorley, who made his return in the second period, since injuring his shoulder and back in the New Year’s Eve exhibition game against Dynamo Riga.

Oiler right winger Glenn Anderson tied it again, 4-4, at 17:44, taking the puck back on a give-and-go with Miroslav Frycer and chipping it over the left shoulder of Glenn Healy as Anderson slid past the right side of the Kings’ goal.

That goal had a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum grumbling all over again about an apparent goal by Gretzky that had been disallowed just a few minutes earlier. Gretzky had skated around the back of the Oiler net and put the puck into the left corner with 5:31 left to play in regulation. But an elbowing penalty on Robitaille and a penalty on Jeff Beukeboom for his retaliation, was whistled just before the score, and the goal didn’t count.

Meanwhile, Jari Kurri’s back-to-back goals in the third period had given new life to the Oilers, who trailed, 3-1, after two periods.

But when it was all over, Kurri was taking no bows.

“We can’t just play in the third period,” Kurri said. “We have to play the whole 60 minutes.”

And, the overtime.

Oiler Coach Glen Sather was not happy about a high-sticking call on Mark Messier at 25 seconds of the overtime that gave the Kings their power play.

Sather said: “What are you going to say? You lose a game to a questionable call in overtime from a linesman who’s substituting for a referee that gets hurt. I thought our team played pretty (well). We came back and worked hard and did a lot of things right. But it happens.”

Referee Dave Newell was hurt in the first period and did not come back out. Linesmen Wayne Bonney and Kevin Collins continued on their own, with Collins acting as referee.

King Ron Duguay liked the way the game took off at such a fast pace, noting, “That’s our style.”

In the first few minutes, Oiler Keith Acton was penalized 5 minutes for a high stick that caught King Sylvain Couturier in the mouth. Acton was ejected on the automatic game-misconduct penalty.

But the Kings did not take advantage of their 5-minute power play.

Instead, they gave up a shorthanded goal to Mark Messier, who took a pass that Robitaille missed at the Oilers’ blue line and beat Healy 1-on-1.

But, at 9:24, Nicholls scored the first of his 2 goals, passing to Gretzky and then getting a return pass from Gretzky, which he put past Ranford to tie the game, 1-1.

After Normand Lacombe was whistled for tripping Duguay, the Kings scored on the power play. The goal was credited to Couturier, his first National Hockey League goal, after Doug Crossman’s shot from the blue line deflected off an Oiler and then off Couturier as it bounced around in the traffic in front of Ranford.

Nicholls stretched the Kings’ lead to 3-1 in the second period on the Kings’ record 13th shorthanded goal of the season at 4:27. It was also Gretzky’s third assist of the game.

Gretzky said his personal performance, like the team’s, seemed to signal an end of a slump. “It’s about time, huh?” he said.

Kings Notes

Winger Dave Pasin was returned to the New Haven, Conn., affiliate Monday after playing 4 games with the Kings. . . . The sellout Tuesday night was the third straight home-game sellout for the Kings, a first in club history.

Ken Baumgartner was hospitalized Monday for treatment of pneumonia after returning from the trip to Canada. . . . Bob Carpenter, whose hand is in a cast, will be out indefinitely. He was injured when he hit the post during the exhibition game against the Soviets on New Year’s Eve. His thumb was jammed backward, causing injury to his wrist.