Kings Get Win Over Canucks : Hockey: Nicholls’ goal in overtime is the difference in 5-4 victory over Vancouver.

The Kings were giving more credit to the Vancouver Canucks than themselves after their 5-4 overtime win Wednesday night in front of 14,153 at the Forum.

Bernie Nicholls, who scored the game-winning goal, said: “It’s the sign of a good team when you don’t play well and you win. They (the Canucks) played real well. They didn’t deserve to lose tonight.”

Said King Coach Tom Webster: “Vancouver played very hard. It’s nice that we got the win, let’s put it that way.”

This is not to say that the Kings are about to give Vancouver the two points for the win. No, not while the Smythe Division is in this state.

The Kings (14-11-2) gained on second-place Calgary, who lost Wednesday night. The last-place Canucks (10-14-4) dropped four points behind Winnipeg.

Thankful is one way to feel about winning a game such as Wednesday’s, in which Vancouver out-worked and nearly out-played the Kings.

With the game tied at the end of regulation, it was uncertain whether the Kings would snap out of their doldrums.

It happened, but not without the Canucks’ inadvertent assistance. The winning goal was the result of teamwork, and a slight hesitation by Vancouver goaltender Kirk McLean.

Steve Kasper got it started for the Kings by getting the puck to Luc Robitaille deep in Vancouver’s zone--via the end boards. Robitaille said Kasper’s soft dump pass, which is designed to minimize the rebound off the boards, was the key.

“Steve did a great job getting the puck to me,” Robitaille said.

Robitaille got to the puck before McLean, who had committed himself to going into the corner to clear it. Robitaille said he saw McLean hesitate. That was enough to allow Robitaille to pounce on the puck and turn and pass it to center ice.

Nicholls did the rest.

His game-winning goal nullified a great effort by the Canucks, which was apparent from the first period. The Kings got out of it with a 1-0 lead, but the Canucks had clearly outplayed them.

What was said in the Kings’ locker room between the first and second periods?

“Not to kid ourselves, we weren’t playing well,” said Steve Duchesne, whose night consisted of one goal and two assists but also a second-period lapse that led to a Vancouver goal.

The first period’s only goal came from King defenseman Larry Robinson, his 200th in 18 NHL seasons.

The play began, as many King scoring plays do, with the hand of Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky, working from the side of the net, moved the puck to John Tonelli in the slot. Tonelli’s hard shot was stopped by goaltender McLean’s midsection, but the rebound was scooped up by Robinson, who lifted it high into the net.

The second period was busy. Vancouver tied it with a short-handed goal at 2:52 into the period. Duchesne failed to hold the puck in at the point in the Canucks’ zone and it was picked up by Vancouver’s Doug Smith.

King defenseman Brian Benning scrambled back to defend on the two-on-one rush, but Smith scored on a shot between Hrudey’s legs.

The Kings took the lead on a lucky, but hardly unusual goal, made possible by an opponent’s skate. The Kings’ Luc Robitaille was carrying the puck on the left side of the Canucks’ zone and spotted Dave Taylor in front of the net. Robitaille’s intended pass bounced off Tony Tanti’s skate and into the net. Kings lead, 2-1.

That was just the beginning of a hectic and often frenzied five-goal period. Vancouver tied it little more than a minute later when Canuck defenseman Garth Butcher took advantage of a Hrudey’s position--far out of the net--and scored after moving the puck from his backhand to forehand.

The Canucks took the lead for the first time at 13:53 when Tanti took teammate Trevor Linden’s centering pass on a power play and one-timed it pass a bewildered Hrudey.

It would not prove to be the King goaltender’s finest period.

The Kings rallied, however, with only 26 seconds remaining in the period. Again the goal was a Gretzky creation. He dropped a blind pass to Duchesne and the hard-shooting defenseman’s slap shot streaked past McLean.

The third period ended in a 4-4 tie after power play goals by Nicholls’ and Tanti.

King Notes

King goaltender Kelly Hrudey’s streaky play may be attributed to inactivity. His last start was Dec. 2, which often seems like an eternity to hockey players who are used to one-day layoffs. . . . The Canucks carry two Soviet players on their roster. . . . The Kings begin a nine-day, six-game trip today, and play Friday night in Edmonton.