Kings Are Down to Final Chance for Needed Victory in Edmonton

As Wayne Gretzky said, it’s amazing what one victory will do.

After all, he and the Kings know what one more loss to the Edmonton Oilers will do--end what is supposed to be the Kings’ renaissance season.

Gretzky set up two power-play goals and then scored an insurance goal with 1:17 left Tuesday night at the Forum to lead the Kings to a 4-2 victory that cut the Oilers’ lead in the Smythe Division semifinals to 3-2.

Game 6 is tonight here at Northlands Coliseum, where the Oilers are on a 14-0 playoff winning streak. Gretzky was with the two-time defending NHL champions for 12 of those victories before being traded to the Kings last Aug. 9.

“As I said after Game 4, that even though we were down 3-1 we felt that we played pretty well throughout the series,” Gretzky said. “This hasn’t been a series, for a first round, that’s been dominated by one team by any means.

“And as I say, we’ve got the hardest draw in the league. We’re playing the defending champions. We’re playing a real good team that plays well under pressure. After we lost Game 1 at home we knew we had to win one game up there. . . . Now it comes down it has to be Game 6.

“The momentum has changed a little bit, but we’ve still got a tough game in their rink,” said Gretzky, who assisted on goals Tuesday by Chris Kontos and Bernie Nicholls.

Before the playoffs started, Gretzky insisted Northlands Coliseum was the hardest rink in which to win.

The Kings were 2-2 here during the regular season, but the postseason brings a whole different atmosphere to the Oilers. Their last playoff loss here was to Philadelphia in the fifth game of the 1987 Stanley Cup finals. Edmonton won the seventh game at home, then went 11-0 last year en route to their fourth Cup in five seasons.

They then kept the streak going with Grant Fuhr’s 4-0 shutout last Saturday and a 4-3 victory Sunday on defenseman Steve Smith’s goal with 26 seconds left in regulation.

“It’s the kind of ice they like to play on. It’s fast ice,” said Gretzky, who was booed here every time he touched the puck last weekend. “It may be the best ice in the league. They thrive on that ice.

“We’ve just got to be patient and be smart. We’re going to play our same game. You never know.”

The Oilers have lost only seven of 52 home playoff games since 1984, when they won their first Cup.

Kings goalie Kelly Hrudey, an Edmonton native, is eager to atone for last weekend’s losses.

When told about the Oilers’ winning streak, he said: “That’s good. Because then the odds are that they’re bound to lose one eventually. I’m not hoping, I’m going to go there to try and make that happen. I don’t want to go up there and let Lady Luck play a part of it. We have to do it ourselves, not wait for somebody.

“I really don’t care who the pressure is on. It’s only in your mind, and let’s just worry about our own game,” said Hrudey, who evened his playoff record at 2-2.

Hrudey rebounded with a strong game Tuesday night, making several great saves late in the second period and then shutting the door on the Oilers after allowing Normand Lacombe’s backhander with 4:05 left that cut the Kings’ lead to 3-2.

Even Kings coach Robbie Ftorek, who’s usually noncommittal about everything, had something to say about the Oilers’ playoff winning streak.

“There’s always a first time,” he said. “Some people would say the odds are against us but some would say the odds are for us. I say it’s another game that we’ve just got to go up and play.

“I’m sure that they don’t want to come back here, but by the same token they’re confident that they can win in this rink and we’re confident that we can win in that rink. So both games are going to be real exciting,” he said, obviously confident the Kings can force Game 7.

Edmonton coach Glen Sather wasn’t disappointed in his team’s effort.

“We didn’t die. We didn’t expect to win this series easily. We expect to win.”

Then Sather, who got into a war of words with Gretzky before the playoffs, took a jab at another Oiler-turned-King, Marty McSorley.

“I know that McSorley said they were going to win in five, so we’ve already disrupted his prediction,” Sather said. “Marty’s usually right in his long-term predictions.”