Krushelnyski Gives Kings Tie With Flames : Hockey: Los Angeles comes back to force game into overtime with goal in last minutes.

What made anyone think it would be easy? The Calgary Flames and the Kings entered this game tied for second place in the Smythe Division with 41 points each.

Then they played 60 minutes of regulation plus overtime Wednesday night only to end up in another tie, 5-5, before 16,005 at the Forum.

That left the Kings with a 19-14-4 record and Calgary with a 16-12-10 record, still in a tie for second, but now each with 42 points.

There is little doubt about which team is the best in the division at the moment. First-place Edmonton beat Philadelphia Wednesday night, 2-1, so they stay on top of the division with 47 points.

Even the division race is more clear-cut than Wednesday’s game, a see-saw battle which saw its last goal when the Kings’ Mikko Makela fed Mike Krushelnyski in the slot and Krushelnyski scored to make it 5-5 with less than five minutes left in regulation.

The Kings had been scoreless in the first period and then turned around to score three goals in the second, taking a 3-2 lead going into the final period.

The Flames quickly put a halt to any momentum the Kings might have carried over from their three-goal second period when they scored with only 1:33 gone in the third period.

Calgary left wing Gary Roberts was carrying the puck on a seemingly routine line rush, then suddenly fired from the left circle. It was a clear shot and King goaltender Kelly Hrudey had a clear look. It was only the first shot taken in the period, but the 25th Hrudey had faced in the game.

The Kings took the lead again, on a power-play goal. The Flames were working hard on defense, causing the Kings to keep the puck moving to open things up. It was a plan that worked well. The puck had already been on the stick of three Kings before it ever found Robitaille. The last of them was Steve Duchesne, whose shot bounced out into the busy slot, where Robitaille scooped it up and scored.

The Flames roared back to tie it minutes later with an off goal, but crucial to the them. Calgary’s Paul Ranheim’s centering pass hit Joe Mullen on the chest and bounced in, making it 4-4.

Calgary took the lead on Jiri Hrdina’s wrap-around goal at 12:47, but that lead lasted barely one minute.

The Kings would seem to have had an advantage in the first period, having been given three power plays. The Kings are first in the league with the man advantage (Calgary is second) but they failed to generate many opportunities. In their three power plays, the Kings got off two shots.

The Flames scored their first goal after getting behind the fast-retreating King defense. Joe Mullen picked up the puck on the right side of the net and slid it put to Joel Otto. Otto, who at 6 feet 4 inches and 220 pounds has developed a camp-in-front-of-the-net style, merely poked it past Hrudey while King defenders tried to move him. Otto would not be moved.

The Kings appeared to have scored moments later, when Luc Robitaille’s shot flew in the Calgary goal. However, officials ruled that King forward Mike Allison had interfered with goaltender Mike Vernon on the play. The goal was disallowed and Calgary was given a power play.

The fans were wild with displeasure. In fact, Allison had skated from behind the net and appeared to trip Vernon, who was falling to the ice as Robitaille took his shot.

The incident was more costly than it first seemed. The Flames scored on the ensuing power play, giving them a 2-0 lead.

On that goal Calgary’s Gary Suter took a pass and sent one of his own across the crease to center Joe Nieuwendyk, who tipped it in. It was Nieuwendyk’s 25th goal of the season.

That flurry in the King end was typical of the way things went in the first period. The aggressive Flames outshot the Kings, 13-9.

The second period was a wild one after a mild one--no great surprise with the Kings. The listless first period gave way to a period in which the Kings did little to generate more scoring opportunities--they had only four shots on goal. But the Kings greatly improved their ability to capitalize on shots--they got goals on three of the four shots.

The first goal was set up by Robitaille, who did a yeoman’s job of keeping the puck alive in the corners and behind the net. It was from behind the net that he flicked the puck out to Keith Crowder, who scored at 5:04 to begin the King comeback.

The Kings tied it with a power-play goal by defenseman Brian Benning. The Kings patiently worked the puck around, probing the Flame defense, which gave little.

Steve Duchesne at the right point passed to Benning at the left point. Benning’s was a straight slap shot on which Vernon did not appear to be screened. Such lapses are perhaps understandable given the paucity of shots the Calgary goaltender faced.

Calgary coaches will no doubt be admonishing their players on the inadvisability of taking bad penalties. For it was the power play that gave the Kings the go-ahead goal. It came from Wayne Gretzky on his first shot of the period. The play started with a pass from Bernie Nicholls to Robitaille in the middle. Robitaille had no shot and flipped it to Gretzky, whose shot high into the net gave the Kings the lead for the first time.

It was Gretzky’s first goal of the season against the Flames.

King Notes

Veteran King right wing Dave Taylor sat out the game with a groin injury. . . . The Kings and Flames measure up fairly evenly on special teams. The Kings are No. 1 in the league on the power play and the Flames are No. 2, the Kings are No. 16 at penalty killing, the Flames are No. 19. . . . The Flames have two Soviet players, right wing Sergei Makarov and right wing Sergei Priakin. Makarov has been a bright spot. He leads the league in rookie points with 41. Priakin, however, has been less stellar. He has played in only six games for the Flames. . . . Wednesday night’s game was the 12th sellout of the season.