Gretzky Blanked at Home in 3-2 Loss to Bruins

Wayne Gretzky, who was honored in a ceremony before the game for breaking Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League scoring record, was shut out at the Forum Tuesday night for the first time since becoming a King. No goals, no assists on just one shot.

The record run is over. It’s back to hockey as usual. And hockey as usual means that those pesky Boston Bruins give Gretzky fits.

With the score tied, overtime looking imminent and a sellout crowd of 16,005 looking to Gretzky for one of his storybook endings, it was former King Bobby Carpenter who scored the winning goal.

With 2 minutes 33 seconds to play, Carpenter--the center who was traded to Boston for Steve Kasper last season--scored to give Boston a 3-2 victory.

The winner was scored against Kasper’s line, which includes another former Bruin, Keith Crowder. They were crossed up on a line change, which they saw as more of an indictment than an excuse.

“It was the big play of the game,” Carpenter said. “I was happy. I was long overdue. I had a lot of chances the last five games, and I think it’s good it happened tonight.

“Ray Bourque got that puck, and I knew the rebound was going to come. I kind of missed it because I was overanxious. But it went in, and that was good.”

Gretzky wasn’t surprised to see Carpenter get the game-winner. “He’s played well for them,” Gretzky said. “He played well when he was here for us.”

As for being shut out at the Forum for the first time since joining the Kings, Gretzky said: “Maybe it’s good that it happened. Get it out of the way. I’ve been shut out in Edmonton when I was playing for them.”

But it was a jolt to everyone else after his strong game at Edmonton Sunday night.

Typically, Gretzky did not hold back on his opinion. “It was a combination of them playing extremely well and, too, there’s no question that what happened Sunday made us come out a little bit flat today,” he said. “I hate to say that.

“But they checked well and played well. . . . They check well as a team. That’s their whole game. The key is to get ahead of them.”

Which the Kings did not do.

The Bruins got out to a 2-0 lead on a first-period goal by Gret Hawgood and an early second-period goal by Bob Sweeney.

Kasper’s line, which is supposed to be primarily a checking line and which spent most of the night on the ice against Boston’s high-scoring line of center Craig Janney and wingers Cam Neely and Bobby Joyce, also accounted for the goal that started the Kings on their comeback.

Mikael Lindholm, who was recently moved from Gretzky’s line, has joined Kasper and Crowder on their line. Lindholm scored the Kings’ first goal of the game at 2:23 of the second period after Kasper fed Crowder and Crowder took a shot from the left side. Bruin goalie Andy Moog made the stop, but Lindholm was out in front to get the rebound and score.

Kasper scored on the short-handed goal that tied the score, 2-2, at 14:36 of the second period.

A pass to Ray Bourque in the Bruins’ end didn’t quite reach him, and Bourque found himself racing Kasper to the puck. Kasper won and put the puck past Andy Moog at short range.

It was one of just 24 shots that Moog faced while, at the other end, King goalie Kelly Hrudey was dealing with 36 shots.

“They out-chanced us in our own building, and that shouldn’t happen,” said King John Tonelli.

King Notes

In a ceremony to celebrate Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, which he set Sunday night at Edmonton, King players, coaches and staff presented Gretzky with a portrait of himself in a Kings’ uniform, an original by LeRoy Neiman. Owner Bruce McNall gave Gordie Howe 1,850 silver American Eagle coins, in honor of his total points, and he gave Gretzky 1,851 gold American Eagle coins in honor of the points he made to break Howe’s record.

Brinks guards escorted the gifts to center ice. At $100 each, the gold coins are worth about $185,100. At about $10 each, the silver coins are worth about $18,500. Which proves that all things are relative considering McNall’s earlier assertion that: “They aren’t going to be a gifts of great monetary value. Just fun things.”

McNall had hoped that Gretzky would break the record during the first four games of the season, which were at the Forum, or that he would get his record point in this game. Bob Miller, the Kings’ radio and TV announcer who served as M.C. of the ceremony, offered this in his words to Gretzky: “While Edmonton may have eye-witnessed your record-breaking goal, we have you here in Los Angeles.” Gretzky told the crowd: “I’m overwhelmed by everything that’s happened in the last couple of days. I’m excited and proud to be a member of the Los Angeles Kings. Individual accolades are always fun, but let’s hope the next time we’re standing here celebrating, it’s with the Stanley Cup.”

There are five Kings on this year’s NHL all-star ballot--left wing Luc Robitaille, centers Gretzky and Bernie Nicholls, goalie Kelly Hrudey and defenseman Steve Duchesne. Calgary and Edmonton both have seven players on the ballot.

The Kings will play their next two games on the road, at St. Louis Saturday and at Chicago Sunday before returning to play Calgary at the Forum Oct. 25.