He’s Still a Forum Favorite : Nicholls: Fans welcome him back with flowers, banners and cheers. He also scores third goal in last two games for Rangers.

A vase of blood-red roses sat on the wooden table outside the New York Rangers’ locker room, their scent competing with the odors of liniment and sweat and wood shavings generated as the players prepared for Saturday’s game against the Kings.

“To Bernie,” read the card. Nicholls, looking more than a little dazed in his first visit to the Forum since the Kings traded him to the Rangers, never noticed the floral tribute.

“Today is probably the toughest day of the whole thing,” he said softly as he waited for technicians to set up the lights and cameras for a television interview. “But hopefully, things will go well early and I can keep it going from there.”

Nicholls went from the Kings, the only team he had ever played for, to the Rangers on Jan. 20. In exchange for Nicholls, who scored 70 goals last season, the Kings acquired right wingers Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato, who together scored two fewer goals last season than Nicholls did alone. Sandstrom, who had an assist Tuesday in his first game as a King, had an assist on the Kings’ first goal Saturday against his former teammates, but Granato did not play because of a persistent groin pull.

Wearing his new Ranger jersey--with his old No. 9--for his TV appearance, Nicholls wandered the corridor that separates the teams’ locker rooms. He paused to lean on the stick rack and chat with Wayne Gretzky for several minutes and made sure to instruct the Kings’ equipment managers where to send his sticks.

“You look good in blue,” yelled Ranger defenseman Mark Hardy, who also played with Nicholls on the Kings. Nicholls smiled. “I do look pretty good in blue. I don’t mind the color,” he said. “But I looked good in black, too.”

Nicholls arrived at the Forum at about 5:15 p.m., leaving several swooning female fans in his wake. Some things never change.

“Oh my heart. It’s him,” one squealed in the parking lot as Nicholls entered the building. He was greeted with the same affection when he skated onto the ice for the pregame warmups. Fans swarmed to rinkside and pressed signs to the glass for Nicholls to read: “We (heart) Bernie,” one said in a black scrawl. “We miss you Bernie,” another homemade placard proclaimed. Still another fan stole a bedsheet to display his sentiments, writing “Nicholls, you’re the best.”

Their demonstrations carried over into the game, and they weren’t shy about letting General Manager Rogie Vachon know they weren’t pleased with the deal. Early in the first period, an entire section held up two-page signs, showing first the top sheet, which read, ‘Hello Bernie,” and then the second page, which demanded, “Trade Rogie.” Nicholls then received a standing ovation when he scored in the second period to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Nicholls had already scored two goals Thursday in the Rangers’ 8-5 loss at Calgary. He took over the team scoring lead with 29 goals and 77 points before Saturday’s game.

“We expect Bernie will score a lot of goals. We need goals and that’s what he does best,” said Ranger Coach Roger Neilson, who coached the Kings for part of the 1983-84 season and is familiar with Nicholls. “Other teams will have to key on him and he’s going to help our power play and take the heat off Brian Leetch and James Patrick. Other teams had been concentrating on Leetch and Patrick, but now they’ll have to watch out for Bernie, too.”

When he left, Nicholls didn’t go quietly. A few days after the trade, he blasted King Coach Tom Webster for decreasing his ice time and emphasizing defense over offense, claiming that he “didn’t get no respect” from the coach and insisting that Webster was afraid for his job after seeing Robbie Ftorek dismissed last summer. Nicholls, admittedly nervous about facing his former teammates, was reluctant to say much before Saturday’s game, but Webster said the two had smoothed over their differences earlier in the day.

And to prove he held no grudge, Webster gave Nicholls a farewell gift: a black tie with purple polka dots.

Webster, in his usual low-key fashion, said he was not offended by Nicholls’ jabs at him.

“That was understandable. A player gets traded and a lot of unfortunate things come out,” Webster said. “But we talked this morning. I said, ‘Bernie, I wish you the very best of luck in New York,’ and he just said, ‘Thanks.’ I’m not going to get into a war of words with the guy. I understand he was upset that it happened, but I think this is a trade that’s going to benefit both teams.”

Sandstrom is convinced that he will benefit more than Nicholls will.

“There’s a bigger chance to win the Stanley Cup here, that’s for sure,” the 25-year-old Swede said. “Look at the players you have here: Wayne Gretzky, Larry Robinson and all those guys. It seems like all the teams that win the Stanley Cup have one of those guys.”