Gretzky’s Countdown Starts Slowly : Scorer’s Decision Gives Him Lone Point as Kings Win, 4-2, in Webster’s Debut

Toronto goalie Allan Bester was not distracted by the notion that Wayne Gretzky, on a mission at the start of this season to tick off 14 points and become the greatest scorer in the history of the National Hockey League, might jump all over him for about half those points.

Nah. Not at all.

It’s purely coincidence that in holding Gretzy to one point in the Kings’ opener at the Forum Thursday night, one very cheap point, Bester gave up backbreaking goals to unlikely heroes as the Kings rolled on to a 4-2 victory.

Right.

Bester could explain that lapse. “I kind of lost my concentration there a little bit,” he said. “They got the one goal that caught me a little flatfooted and I sort of lost my concentration. And you can’t do that against a club like Edmonton--uh, sorry, L.A.”

Gretzky plays for L.A. these days. The Edmonton Oilers are in his distant past.

The scoring title is in his immediate future, assuming he starts scoring more than one point a game.

In a larger sense, the victory made Coach Tom Webster’s debut with the Kings a success.

It was a successful debut, too, for defenseman Larry Robinson, playing for the Kings for the first time after 17 years with the Montreal Canadiens. Robinson led a strong defensive effort and even added two assists.

Strangely, Robinson scored more points than Gretzky, who is on a much-celebrated countdown to his destiny as the highest scorer in the history of the National Hockey League.

And strangely, the Forum was not sold out for the start of the countdown. Although there were many empty seats, attendance was announced as 15,598.

As the season began, Gretzky needed 14 points to take the record from Gordie Howe. He now needs 13.

He scored just one point against one of the lesser teams in the league. And a most unimpressive point it was.

Gretzky’s first point of the season was awarded, long after the fact--on a scorer’s decision between periods--for winning the faceoff that preceded Hubie McDonough’s wrap-around goal.

McDonough took the puck behind the Maple Leaf net, carried it to the front and sailed it between Bester’s pads to give the Kings a 3-0 lead at 14:47 of the second period.

McDonough said: “(Gretzky) won the faceoff. It happened so fast. I just kind of poked it away. Jay (Miller) picked the guy in front, and I was able to wheel around the post and throw it at the net and it snuck in there. I didn’t have any other play, so I threw it at the net. I don’t shoot ‘em very hard, but sometimes they sneak in.

“I was very surprised. It’s my first goal. I’m really happy to get it like that. It’s quite a thrill. And Wayne Gretzky gets the assist on it.

“It’s something to tell the kids about when I get older.”

There was a carefully measured cheer from the crowd at the start of the third period at the announcement of the dubious point that cut the gap between Gretzky’s career total and Howe’s career total to 12 for the tie, 13 for the record to change hands.

Gretzky said: “It’s too early to think about the record yet. I thought a lot about it during the off-season, but now that the season has started, I just go out and play as hard as I can.

“I felt we had a real strong game tonight. Everybody was a little nervous. Defensively, it’s a must for us to play this way in this division.”

McDonough’s goal was the last of a string of three quick goals in the second period.

With all the attention on Gretzky, an unlikely group did all the scoring. The second-period goals came after more than half the game had ticked away without a point for anyone.

Bob Kudelski, who spent more time in New Haven, Conn., last season playing for the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate than he spent in Los Angeles, found himself all alone skating through the right circle. Robinson found him, too, giving him the puck for the Kings’ first goal of the season at 10:54 of the second period.

“Larry made a great move going to the left side. I knew I could beat the defenseman because he was flatfooted. It was a great pass. After that, I didn’t realize that I put it in until it was over.”

About three minutes later, defenseman Ken Baumgartner got a rare goal--unassisted no less--when he fired a big slapshot from the blue line along the left side boards. Baumgartner had scored one goal all last season.

It was just 42 seconds later that McDonough wrapped around behind the Toronto goal and sailed the puck between Bester’s knees to help Gretzky get his point.

King goalie Kelly Hrudey was 17 seconds from getting out of the second period with his shutout intact when Toronto’s John Kordic lifted a shot over Hrudey’s outstretched glove to make it 4-1.

Bester had stopped all 14 shots he faced in the first period, including the lone shot by Gretzky, and had stopped the first five of the second period when the barrage hit.

The Kings had one near-miss in the first period, thinking that they had a goal by Jim Fox only to have the officials rule that the whistle had blown before he scraped the puck out of the pileup of Maple Leafs in the crease and put it in the net.

Toronto Coach Doug Carpenter said: “They probably had a few more scoring chances than we did, but on the other hand, take away that five-minute period and we were all right.”

The Kings stretched their lead to 4-1 early in the third period when Luc Robitaille scored his first goal of the season 17 seconds into a power play, putting in a pass from Bernie Nicholls. Robinson also assisted on that goal.

Carpenter: “They like to get into those fire-wagon, end-to-end dashes. Our plan was to try and neutralize that and try not to put ourselves in outnumbered situations.”

Hrudey was 47 seconds away from getting out of the game having given up just the one goal when Wendel Clark got Toronto’s second past him.

Webster, wearing his lucky purple socks that worked again, said: “I think we played a solid 60 minutes, although in the second period we relaxed a bit. But we were able to pick up the tempo again.

“I was able to get four lines going. I think that helped us in the long run.

“We accomplished a goal, and that was to keep it under three, which we did. It was good to see that we could get goals from some other people.”

The Toronto goalie had some kind words for the Kings that reflected directly upon their new leader.

“They look like a strong team. They’ve got a potent offense, that’s for sure,” Bester said. “They play together very well. That’s something I noticed and respected tonight.”

King Notes

The Kings sold out the season opener a year ago, getting their first sellout of an opener for Wayne Gretzky’s debut as a King. But they didn’t repeat this season, coming up short despite Gretzky’s run at the all-time scoring lead. . . . Defenseman Barry Beck has not yet made his debut with the Kings. He was scratched for the opener, giving a groin injury more time to heal. . . . Mike Krushelnyski left the game Thursday night after jamming his left wrist towards the end of the first period. Bob Kudelski took Krushelnyski’s place on the left side of Gretzky’s line. . . . The Kings will play the second game of this four-game homestand Saturday night against the Edmonton Oilers. They also will play Sunday night against the Detroit Red Wings.