Deep in Slump, Kings Buried by Flames, 8-5

These things happen.

After losing to the Calgary Flames, 8-5, Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 16,005 at the Forum, the Kings have a winless streak of 7 games (0-6-1).

It happens. Even Wayne Gretzky said so. It happened to the Edmonton Oilers last year, when they were on their way to the Stanley Cup.

“Last year we went five or six without a win,” Gretzky said. “It happens. It’s part of professional sports.”

Gretzky, who had a goal and three assists, was swarmed by reporters and camera crews when he finally stepped into the locker room after the game. It was a pretty empty place for a while, as the players took long showers and pondered the slump.

King owner Bruce McNall smiled as reporters approached and fired off a list of answers, not needing the questions: “No . . . Not now . . . Everything’s fine . . . I’m not worried.”

He pointed out that his guests, who included Jack Nicholson and Mary Hart, stayed until the end. And golfers Craig Stadler, Dave Stockton and Hale Irwin were standing by him in the locker room.

“See?” he said. “We’re still OK.”

But all the folks who recently joined McNall on his silver-and-black bandwagon are coming out to see the Kings win. Almost won’t make it over the long haul.

Once again, the Kings played a wild, entertaining game. But again they came up short.

The game had a magic moment of hope when Gretzky tied the score, 5-5, in the third period. He waited at the right corner of the Flames’ net to put his touch on a pass from Luc Robitaille and sent the puck in behind Flames goalie Mike Vernon.

That was with just 7:13 to play in regulation.

But before the Kings could score the winning goal or even make it to overtime, the Flames struck for three more goals.

Hakan Loob scored the go-ahead goal at 18:05, and Joe Mullen gave himself a hat trick just 12 later. And with 28 seconds to play, Joe Nieuwendyk scored on the Kings’ empty net to complete a hat trick, too.

Those were very polite guests who sat with McNall until the end.

The Kings are on a long, tough stretch that started on the road and has lasted through the first two games of this home stand.

They haven’t won a game since Jan. 14. The highlight of the stretch was the 4-4 tie at Washington--and that was a game that they had won and let get away.

In years past, a seven-game winless streak would be considered normal. Now, since the Kings are in danger of slipping out of second place in the Smythe Division, it’s a slump.

With the loss, the Kings fell to 27-21-4, and Calgary strengthened its hold on the Smythe Division lead by raising its record to 34-11-8, tied with Montreal for the best in the league.

The Kings are now 18 points out of first place and are trying to hold on to second place. They want to finish ahead of Edmonton so that they will have the home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Asked for a positive slant on the game, which followed a tough 7-6 loss to the Oilers Saturday night, Gretzky offered: “Well, the same as the last game, we battled back and battled back. We didn’t quit. We spotted two of the best teams in the league a lead and then battled back to be in position to win.”

With the Kings trailing, 5-3, Bernie Nicholls launched the comeback attempt with a turn-and-fire goal at 5:04 of the third period that closed the gap to 5-4.

That was Nicholls’ second goal of the night. He had gotten the Kings started with the first goal of the game, knocking a bouncing puck out of the air and past Vernon at 6:58 of the first period.

But it was 3-1, Flames, by the end of the period. Calgary came back to score 4 on 4 (Nieuwendyk), short-handed (Nieuwendyk again) and on the power play (Mullen).

Also in the first period, Bob Kudelski of the Kings received a game misconduct on a 5-minute major for high sticking. The victim in the incident was Flame center Doug Gilmour, the same player who drew a high-sticking and game-misconduct call against King defenseman Steve Duchesne the last time these teams met in Calgary.

Gilmour is getting good at that call.

In the second period, the Flames went up by three goals, 4-1, when Theoren Fleury reached around Ken Baumgartner to score with just over 3 minutes played.

The Kings scored the next two goals on power plays--they had four power-play goals in the game--to get back in it. Mike Allison took a pass from Gretzky and scored on a 30-foot slapshot right down the middle at 10:54, and Duchesne took a pass from Gretzky and slapped it in from the top of the right circle at 17:58.

But before the period was out, the Flames added a goal that really irritated the King fans. Mullen scored at 19:32, putting the Flames up, 5-3, while most of his teammates were in the crease with King goalie Mark Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick said that one Flame was sitting on him when the puck went in.

Coach Robbie Ftorek, when asked if the team was trying too hard, maybe pressing, answered:

“We might have tried to do a little too much. But I can’t say we’re pressing. The frustrating part is that it was right there for the taking, and we didn’t capitalize on it.”

King Notes

Ron Duguay, the only player on the Kings’ roster who does not wear a helmet, was shaken up just 36 seconds into the game when he was checked hard by Dana Murzyn and knocked to the ice. The back of Duguay’s head bounced off the ice. He was helped off the ice but was not taken to the hospital. He did not return to the game, but he was alert and seemed to be OK. . . . Dave Taylor, who is still unable to play because of an inflamed knee, was at the game in street clothes. Igor Liba also missed the game because of a mildly separated shoulder. . . . The sellout was the fourth straight and 14th of the season for the Kings. . . . Steve Duchesne now has 17 goals and 56 points, both career highs.