Nicholls Leads Way With Hat Trick as Kings Beat Blues

Not coincidentally, Bernie Nicholls was in something of a slump himself as the Kings struggled through the last few weeks. But Nicholls’ game started clicking a few days ago, and now the Kings have won two games in a row.

They beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-4, Thursday night as Nicholls had his third hat trick of the season and the 13th of his career, much to the delight of 14,866 fans at the Forum.

The victory was hot on the heels of a tough, emotional overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night, when Nicholls scored 2 goals.

Five goals in 2 games should signal the end of the drought. But in the early going Thursday, it looked as if the Oiler game had drained the Kings, who trailed, 1-0, after one period.

“We knew there might be a bit of a letdown coming off the big win over Edmonton,” Nicholls said. “But they yelled at us pretty good between the first two periods. They got a little hyper in here. And thankfully, it’s a 60-minute game.”

It was not Coach Robbie Ftorek doing the yelling. It was Bryan Maxwell of his staff. And apparently, he got through.

Maxwell said: “We had a lackluster skate this morning, so we were really not surprised at the slow start tonight. We did have an awful big high against Edmonton. But it’s the mark of a good hockey team to be able to come back and win. The good clubs have to do that.”

The Kings raised their record to 26-15-3, and St. Louis fell to 15-20-7.

Nicholls, who scored the Kings’ first goal in the second period, added consecutive goals in the opening minutes of the third period as the Kings put the game away. They scored 3 goals on their first 3 shots in a 1:29 span to turn an iffy 4-3 edge into a safe 7-3 lead.

Nicholls’ first goal of the third period was off a nice centering pass from Ron Duguay. His next goal, and third of the night, was set up by captain Dave Taylor.

Mike Krushelnyski struck for the third goal in the span, his second of the night, with a short, quick shot in front of the goal off a pass from John Tonelli.

The Kings picked up momentum with each period. In the first, the Blues outshot the Kings, 14-6, and Steve Tuttle scored with 1:45 left, finishing a play set up by center Bernie Federko.

In the second period, the Kings came back strong, tying the game with just 2:07 played on a long slapshot by Nicholls, before Tony McKegney gave the Blues the lead again at 3:44.

But the Kings scored the next 3 goals. First, Luc Robitaille put in a little chip shot after goalie Greg Millen had stopped a shot by Steve Duchesne. Then Igor Liba scored on a power play, and Krushelnyski scored for a 4-2 lead.

Rick Meagher brought the Blues back within a goal, skating at Glenn Healy from an angle on the right side of the net and putting the puck just out of his reach. But that was as close as the Blues got before the Kings pulled away in the third period.

Millen said: “Our game is to check them, and we got away from our checking. They just kept coming, coming, coming, and we broke down. They capitalize when you break down.”

The Kings are, after all, the highest-scoring team in the league. They hadn’t dazzled anyone during their 5-game winless streak that ended with the victory over the Oilers. But they may have learned something during that spell.

“I never want to say that a skid is good,” Maxwell said, “but I can say we feel a lot better now about the team than we did a month ago. We’ve worked on some areas that we have to improve on. When we were winning, we weren’t getting any better. But I think that we have improved by working on some things lately.”

Nicholls said he’s feeling good now. “Even at Winnipeg, I was getting chances, but they just weren’t going in,” he said. “That can be frustrating, but at the same time, you know that if you’re getting chances, eventually you’ll start scoring again.”

King Notes

Bernie Nicholls has a total of 43 goals, second in the league to Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux, who has 47. . . . Tom Laidlaw did not play because of a sore back. . . . Mike Allison missed his second game with a nagging knee injury.

Besides Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille, who have been strong in the all-star balloting all along, the Kings also will have Steve Duchesne in the All-Star game, and probably Nicholls. Duchesne learned recently that he had moved up to second place in the voting among defensemen. Nicholls was not on the ballet, but he is sure to be named to the team by the coaches.

The King players and coaches will participate in a benefit March 5 for Love Is Feeding Everyone, a charitable organization. A total of 1,200 tickets will be sold for the “Tip a King for L.I.F.E.” buffet dinner at Lawry’s California Center. The ticket price of $20 includes parking. For a nominal “tip,” fans can get autographs from and personal photographs with the players. Tickets are on sale at the Forum.