Makela’s Goals Pace Kings, 4-1 : Hockey: Former Islander was feeling pressure to score because he was playing on Gretzky’s line.

Mikko Makela felt the pressure.

Felt it in his hands where he was squeezing his stick so tightly he couldn’t control the puck the way he used to.

Felt it whenever he heard people talk about how lucky he was to be playing with Wayne Gretzky.

The implication was obvious. Here he was, a right winger, playing on the same line with the greatest assist man in NHL history.

It’s like playing on the same court with Magic Johnson. Just keep your eyes open and the points will come.

But they hadn’t come for Makela.

Not until Saturday, when he scored half the Kings’ goals in a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in front of a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005.

Before that, Makela had scored only one goal in a dozen games since coming to Los Angeles in a trade with the New York Islanders.

And even in New York, his goal production had steadily declined, from 36 two seasons ago to 17 last season to only two in 20 games before the trade.

“In New York,” Makela said, “they didn’t let me play my game. They wanted me to dump the puck and check. Then you go to another team and you try to do too much.

“But the last few games, I’ve relaxed and done my job instead of skating all over the place. You think that when you play with a guy like that (Gretzky), you have to score. I guess I got uptight.”

The victory moves the Kings into a second-place tie in the Smythe Division with the Calgary Flames, four points behind the Edmonton Oilers.

The Kings started off with the kind of offense that has produced 15 goals in their last two games.

Early in the first period, Larry Robinson, on the power play, slipped a pass to Bernie Nicholls, standing just outside the left post. Nicholls shot from there, but goalie Kirk McLean, diving to the ice, stopped the puck with his stick.

That, however, left McLean spread-eagled and helpless, allowing Nicholls to push the rebound in for his 26th goal of the season, his eighth on the power play.

The score came at 3:37. The Kings turned the Vancouver red light back on at 5:12.

Again Nicholls was camped by the left post, but, this time, he slid the puck through two Canuck defensemen to Luc Robitaille in the slot. Robitaille wristed it in for his 29th goal of the season, the same number league leader Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues had at the start of the night’s play.

Vancouver had just become the latest in an ever-growing line of Robitaille victims. He has scored goals in six consecutive games and has 24 in his last 22 games.

For the first seven minutes Saturday, it looked like scoring opportunities would be no problem for the Kings. They had already taken 12 shots on goal and the Canucks seemed unable to do much about it.

So much for the offense.

The next King shot on goal came with one second left in the period. One blink of the scoreboard clock less than 13 minutes without a shot on goal.

Wayne Gretzky finally took one from the left circle that McLean deflected. The puck flew into the path of Makela, coming in from the right side.

He fired the puck into the net, but all he got for his effort was a green light, rather than a red one.

Time had expired in the period.

Not to be denied, Makela took another shot at 1:15 of the second period, and this one counted.

With Vancouver defenseman Larry Melnyk wrapped around him as he came in from the right side, Makela fell to the ice, but managed to reach out his stick and push the puck into the net.

Vancouver didn’t threaten until a fight between the Kings Brian Benning and Vancouver’s Tony Tanti resulted in a rare match penalty against the Kings.

Tanti got a double minor for instigating the fight and five minutes for fighting. Benning got two minutes for high-sticking, five minutes for fighting and a five-minute match penalty.

Translation: Tanti got the double minor because he wears a face mask and NHL rules stipulate a double minor if the instigator wears the mask.

“He gouged me,” Benning said, “and I was just trying to squirm to get away from him.”

Benning was kicked out, leaving the Kings, at the end of Tanti’s sentence, facing a three-minute Canuck power play.

Didn’t matter. The Canucks didn’t get a shot on goal in the three minutes.

Nothing seemed to work for Vancouver on a night when the Kings, responding to recent criticism over lax defensive play, played tough when the other team had the puck for the second consecutive game.

They have now allowed just two goals in two games after giving up 17 in their previous three.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that their last two games have come against Vancouver and Quebec, two clubs that trail their respective divisions.

After Makela scored his second goal of the night at 11:03 of the third period, Vancouver finally broke through at 17:32 when Petri Skriko, on a pass from Paul Reinhart, scored on a slap shot from the right circle, his ninth goal of the season.

The Kings defense may have tightened, but defenseman Steve Duchesne takes issue with those who saw a problem.

“Everybody says our goals against are so bad,” he said. “But those 8-4 and 9-5 games are not indicative. In those games, you’re susceptible to goals. You have to look at the 3-2 and 2-1 games. Are you winning the defensive games? If you are, great, you’re doing your job.”

King Notes

After getting a first-period assist on Luc Robitaille’s goal, defenseman Steve Duchesne sprained his right knee later in the period and didn’t return . . . Defenseman Tim Watters suffered an ankle contusion in practice and is on a day-to-day basis.