Kings’ 5-Goal Third Period Wears Down Whalers, 9-6

With a little help from his friend John Tonelli, who dug the puck out of the corner for him, Ron Duguay scored the goal that jolted the Kings back to life Saturday night.

Duguay scored again less than 3 minutes later to tie the game. Then it was Tonelli, with his second goal of the night. And then Bernie Nicholls with consecutive goals to ice it.

The Kings scored five goals in the third period to beat the Hartford Whalers, 9-6, before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum.

The Kings never should have needed the last-ditch heroics, not after jumping out to a 3-0 lead against a team that’s in fourth place in the Adams Division.

But it was a strange, strange game.

The Kings won their third in a row by scoring the first 3 goals and the last 5, with the Whalers dancing all over them in between.

“We went out to start the third period losing (6-4) to a team that we feel we’re better than,” Duguay said. “There is no way this team should have been beating us.

“We’ve worked so hard all year trying to get ahead of Calgary and stay ahead of Edmonton. Why do all that work and then lose a game like this? That was enough to motivate us.”

Coach Robbie Ftorek called it “a funny game.” As for the quick attack by Duguay at the start of the third period, Ftorek said: “They’re up 6-4, but if we get the first goal of the period, they’re back on their heels. We did that. That leaves them saying, ‘Uh-oh.’ Because they know we’ve got some firepower.”

Which is putting it mildly.

Duguay thinks maybe the team relies a little too much on that firepower.

“I think maybe we were overconfident,” he said. “That’s only natural when things come so easy. But we can’t rely on our talent and forget to work hard.”

At no point did Tonelli forget to work hard Saturday night. Even Ftorek had to smile when Tonelli went huffing and puffing past the Kings’ bench in pursuit of a puck that was just out of reach. Ftorek did a quick impression of Tonelli panting away. “But that’s the way he works,” Ftorek said. “You know he’s going to get it eventually.”

Tonelli finished with 2 goals and 2 assists.

Tonelli especially liked the assist that gave Duguay his first goal.

“I was so happy when he put the puck in the net,” Tonelli said. “He’s had some tough luck this year, but he turned the game around for us tonight.

“Everyone stuck their noses in it in the third, and we played as a team.”

Interestingly enough, Hartford goalie Mike Liut said he thought the Whalers were guilty of the same mistake that Duguay thought was the Kings’ undoing.

“We were guilty of sitting on the lead,” Liut said.

But the Kings (27-15-3) did it first. They seemed so impressed by their 3-0 lead (on goals by Tonelli, Luc Robitaille and Wayne Gretzky) that they started to call it a night before the middle of the first period.

The Whalers (17-21-3) scored the next 4 goals--3 by the end of the first period to tie it and the fourth at 8:17 of the second period to take the lead.

Gretzky tied it for the Kings at 9:13, and then it was all Whalers again. They scored 2 more and went into the final period with a 6-4 lead.

Ftorek said he briefly thought about relieving rookie goalie Mark Fitzpatrick. He didn’t, because for one thing, Glenn Healy has a touch of the flu, and for another, Ftorek didn’t think all the goals were Fitzpatrick’s fault.

Considering the start, it should have been an easy night for the King goalie.

Tonelli scored just 1:20 into the game, waiting at the right post to put in a pass from Mike Krushelnyski. Robitaille scored his goal at 3:11, taking a slapshot from the top of the left circle instead of passing to Gretzky on the other side. The move surprised Liut, who had started the other way in anticipation of the pass to Gretzky. Gretzky then scored his first goal at 6:45 on a power play, deflecting in a long shot by Steve Duchesne and giving the Kings a 3-0 lead.

Then it was Hartford’s turn.

Ron Francis got the Whalers started with a power-play goal after Fitzpatrick had made a stop on a shot by Norm Maciver. Francis was there to put in the rebound at 8:37. Ray Ferraro added another power-play goal at 14:32, directing in a long, slow slot from the right circle by John Anderson. And Scott Young beat the Kings to a shot off the boards and passed to Dean Evason in front of the King net for the tying goal at 18:26.

The second period was almost as busy.

Young drove down the right side to take a shot that glanced off Fitzpatrick’s stick and into the net at 8:17. But Gretzky tied it, putting in the rebound of a shot by Marty McSorley at 9:13.

The Whalers went ahead again, 5-4, at 13:41. Fitzpatrick had just made a stop, and the Kings were heading for the other end when Francis tipped the puck away and passed it back to Gord Dineen, who was trailing. He turned and, uncontested, flipped it past Fitzpatrick. Then Paul MacDermid scored an unassisted power-play goal at 18:30.

So it was 6-4 going into the third period, when Duguay got the Kings going again.

Duguay was not a likely hero. Since coming to the Kings from the New York Rangers in a trade for Mark Hardy last February, Duguay has been asked to play a defensive role. He had a total of 2 goals for the Kings in the 15 games he played for them last season. He matched that Saturday night.

With a smile, Duguay conceded that offense is fun.

“It’s a nice feeling for me to be able to help the team offensively,” he said. “My role is more or less defensive, so it’s very satisfying to be able to come out of a big game with a couple of goals.”

Duguay, at 31 among the oldest of the Kings, is the only player on the team who skates without a helmet, so he always stands out. And he’s always working.

But Duguay says that Tonelli, also 31, inspires him.

“Johnny has been fired up all year,” Duguay said. “I had a lot of respect for him when I used to play against him, but now that I’ve had a chance to play with him as a teammate and really see what he’s made of, I have even more respect for him. He works so damn hard, every game and every practice.

“It really picks me up.”

King Notes

John Tonelli’s second goal Saturday night gave him the 700th point of his career. He was with the New York Islanders for four Stanley Cup championships. . . . Bernie Nicholls’ second goal of the night was No. 45 for him this season. Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh leads the league with 47. . . . The sellout Saturday night was the Kings’ 11th of the season, adding to the club record. . . . The last regular-season meeting between the Kings and the Whalers will be next Saturday night at Hartford, Conn. The Kings’ next 4 games will be on the road. . . . The Kings are 21-6-0 against teams outside their division. . . . Mike Allison did not dress for the game because of a knee injury.