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Wiemer, a Former Oiler, Wins It for Kings, 4-3

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Times Staff Writer

The winning goal in the Kings’ 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night was scored by a player the Oilers had traded away.

No, it wasn’t Wayne Gretzky.

And it wasn’t Mike Krushelnyski and it wasn’t Marty McSorley. McSorley wasn’t even playing in the game before a sellout crowd of 17,503 at the Northlands Coliseum. He was home at Los Angeles sitting out the first game of a two-game suspension.

The winner was scored by none other than Jim Wiemer, an Edmonton property who had been toiling away with the Oilers’ American Hockey League affiliate at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, before being dealt to the Kings March 7 and going to work in New Haven.

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The 6-foot-4, 208-pound defenseman made his King debut at Quebec last week. But even he admitted surprise at playing such a key role in the Kings’ victory over the Oilers, the team they have once again passed in the battle for second place in the Smythe Division.

The Kings moved two points ahead of the Oilers in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Kings are 38-30-6; the Oilers 36-32-8. The Kings have two more games to play than the Oilers.

The way Bryan Maxwell of the Kings’ coaching staff figures, a head-to-head victory over the Oilers is worth four points--two for the Kings and two that the Oilers don’t have.

But who would have thought the Kings would have Mr. Wiemer (pronounced Weamer) to thank for the tiebreaking goal at 9:44 of the third period? He’s 28 and he has been up and down with the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres and the Oilers.

Gretzky would have thought so.

“Jimmy Wiemer is one of those guys who has been labeled (as a minor league player) for whatever reason,” Gretzky said. “That happens in this league. But he came up last year and the year before for us (the Oilers) and played extremely well.

“He can play. Rogie (Vachon, the Kings’ general manager) made a real good deal to him for us. He’s not flashy, not fancy, not fast. But he’s never out of position. He’s a good team player.”

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And when King captain Dave Taylor heard him calling for the puck and saw that he was, indeed, open, he didn’t hesitate to make the pass from behind the net back to where Wiemer was waiting in the left face-off circle.

“He can really shoot the puck,” Taylor said. “He has a good, heavy shot.”

Wiemer lifted the puck past Grant Fuhr’s shoulder and into the top right corner of the Oiler net.

Wiemer didn’t see it go in, though. He was already heading back to play defense.

That’s how the Kings won the game, after all. By playing defense; by keeping the puck out of their own zone as they killed the last nine minutes, by helping goalie Kelly Hrudey by holding the Oilers to seven shots in the third period.

As Gretzky keeps saying: “If you’re going to win the Stanley Cup, you have to be good defensively.”

Given that Gretzky made a habit of winning Stanley Cups when he was playing with the Oilers, no one doubts his word, or that he is serious about thinking the Kings should be serious about making that their goal.

The defending champion Oilers lead the series against the Kings, 4-3, but the Kings have won the last two--both at Edmonton. The last game of the regular season will be played Saturday night in the Forum.

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The next time they meet will be in the playoffs. Whether that series starts, and probably ends, here or the Forum is the question of the moment.

“We can control our own destiny now,” Gretzky said. “It’s in our hands.”

Gretzky had two assists against his former teammates Tuesday night, on the third-period goals scored by Wiemer and Bernie Nicholls.

Nicholls had tied the game, 3-3, at 8:59 of the third period when he knocked the puck out of the air on a power play and past Fuhr. For Nicholls, it was goal No. 65 of the season. Every goal Nicholls has scored since No. 60 adds to his club record, and he is collecting those pucks.

Nicholls also had assists on the Kings’ first two goals.

The Oilers had taken the early lead when Glenn Anderson took the puck from Gretzky and sent it to Tomas Jonsson, who passed it across the ice to Craig MacTavish for the shot at 15:05.

Luc Robitaille tied it, 1-1, in the second period when he fanned on a shot, chased down the puck and tried again before Fuhr had a chance to return to his feet.

The Oilers regained the lead on Jimmy Carson’s power play goal at 10:56. Carson beat Hrudey point-blank on the stick side. But the Kings tied it again when Steve Kasper recovered from a collision in the crease to control the puck and pass it to Steve Duchesne, who scored a short-handed goal at 17:07 when his long shot hit Fuhr’s pads and trickled in.

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But before the Kings could breathe a sigh of relief, Mark Messier had put the Oilers ahead, 3-2. The puck had been tipped by the Kings’ Ron Duguay to Jari Kurri, who took a shot that Hrudey had to dive for. As Hrudey was diving, Messier reached out to put the puck in the net.

Hrudey faced 31 shots, Fuhr faced only 19.

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