Offense Sustains Kings in 8-4 Win Over Quebec

Call it caution. Call it concern.

King defenseman Larry Robinson was calling for a change Sunday after his team had beaten the Quebec Nordiques.

Wait a minute. Didn’t the Kings win, 8-4?

Didn’t they score in every period, from every position and every angle?

Didn’t they set off the flashing red light so often, the Quebec goal started looking like a fire engine?

Didn’t Luc Robitaille, Dave Taylor and even defenseman Brian Benning score two goals each?

So what’s the problem?

The four Nordique goals.

Robinson is a defenseman, one of the best. A member of the Montreal Canadiens for 17 seasons, he was voted onto their all-century team.

Robinson became a free agent after last season and joined the Kings to tighten their defense.

And one thing he says needs tightening is their attitude.

Like on Sunday.

Before a crowd of 15,399 at the Colisee de Quebec, the Kings zoomed in front, 4-1, in the second period, only to give up three goals thereafter.

“It’s what we’ve done all season,” Robinson said. “You get up 4-1 and everybody wants to get into the points. When you don’t play well defensively, you are letting down your goaltender and he’s part of the team. It’s a wide wound.”

Robinson said he still feels wounded by the cutting of his longtime association with the Canadiens. A friend at the Forum gets Robinson Montreal newspapers so he can follow the progress of his old teammates, but he’ll get a first-hand look tonight when he makes what should be an emotional return appearance at the Montreal Forum.

“I like to keep in touch,” Robinson said. “It’s like (Wayne) Gretzky going back to Edmonton. He’s as close to his former teammates as I am to mine. But he’s got a job to do like I’ve got a job to do. The game is first and foremost.”

Sunday’s game was certainly first and foremost in the minds of the Kings after Friday’s crushing defeat in Edmonton. It’s never easy losing to the club that leads your division.

Especially when you’re down 4-1 and come back, only to lose in overtime.

But Friday’s defeat also brought back some bad memories.

It reminded the Kings too much of another overtime loss on the road, to the Boston Bruins a little over a month ago. That one plunged the Kings into a four-game losing streak.

Now, here they were kicking off a tough, six-game, nine-day trip through the north in a similar way.

So they came out looking for blood Sunday.

The first they saw was their own. Defenseman Tom Laidlaw was inadvertently slashed on the right eyelid by the stick of one of his own men, Taylor, in the first period.

That opened a deep cut that forced the Kings to send Laidlaw home for further examination.

The Kings scored twice in that period after Quebec had taken a 1-0 lead on Lucien Deblois’ shot from just to the right of the crease at 10:42.

Benning’s two goals were his first since joining the club via a trade with the St. Louis Blues a month ago

Taylor’s two goals, his fifth and sixth, were his first in eight games. He had collected only one in his previous 24 games.

Robitaille added to his club lead with his 22nd and 23rd goals.

“It just seemed like everything went right,” he said. “It seemed like every time Bernie (Nicholls) had the puck, he either gave it to me on a great pass or put it in himself.”

Nicholls collected four points on one goal and three assists to extend his point streak to nine games.

Gretzky also has a streak. He had four assists Sunday, marking the 15th consecutive game his name has appeared in the assist column. The league record is 17, held by Gretzky and Paul Coffey.

The Kings’ other goal was scored by John Tonelli.

The team got fat against the worst club in the NHL. Quebec is 6-21-4 and has given up 146 goals, highest in the league.

It doesn’t figure to be so easy tonight in Montreal for the Kings.

And certainly not for Larry Robinson.

King Notes

The Kings improve to 15-12-2 and are just three points behind Edmonton, the Smythe Division leader, and tied with Calgary . . . Lucien Deblois scored two goals Sunday for Quebec, his fourth and fifth of the season . . . The Nordiques’ other goals came from Joe Sakic (his 16th) and Michel Goulet (seventh) . . . For the Kings, Nicholls’ goal was his 21st, Tonelli’s his 15th . . . King goalie Kelly Hrudey faced 38 shots, stopping 34 . . . Quebec topped the Kings in the shots-on-goal department, 38-27 . . . Longtime NHL star Guy Lafleur missed his 12th straight game due to a bruised ankle.