Kings Win; Webster Out 3 More Weeks

No opponent in the NHL presents a more appealing sight for a victory-starved team than the Quebec Nordiques.

The Nordiques have the worst defense in the league, and they have scored fewer goals than any other team.

In short, the NHL’s worst team was made to order for the struggling Kings, who ended a five-game losing streak with a 7-1 rout Saturday night before 16,005 at the Forum.

The Nordiques’ visit couldn’t have been timed any better for the Kings, who announced before the game that they will be without their coach, Tom Webster, for at least three more weeks. Webster will undergo surgery on his left ear Tuesday at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Los Angeles to correct an inner-ear ailment that has not allowed him to coach the team since Feb. 5.

A similar ailment, which required surgery to close a hole in his left ear, prevented Webster from flying and forced him to resign as coach of the New York Rangers 16 games into the 1986-87 season.

“It’s exploratory,” Webster said of the procedure. “All indications from the testing indicate that it is the same problem, but it is so minute it could be in a couple of other areas. They’re going in with the intention of repairing it as if it is a hole.”

Interim co-coaches Rick Wilson and Cap Raeder will continue to run the team in Webster’s absence.

The players were told of Webster’s pending surgery on Thursday, Wilson said.

“Everybody’s disappointed that it will be a few more weeks, but at least we sort of have a clear understanding of exactly what’s wrong, what will be done and when he’ll be back,” Wilson said of Webster.

Webster last coached a full game for the Kings on Jan. 27. He complained of flu-like symptoms last month, then fell in the shower Jan. 26 in an Edmonton hotel room, bumping his head and suffering a mild concussion.

Complaining that he felt ill, he left the bench during games on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. During a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Feb. 3, he spent the entire game in the locker room. Two days later, it was announced that Webster would be given a two-week leave of absence.

He watched on television from the locker room as the Kings, returning to the Forum after an 0-4 trip, got two goals and three assists from Wayne Gretzky and a goal and three assists from Tomas Sandstrom.

“We needed something and hopefully this was it,” Wilson said. “We needed a step up, a lift up. This doesn’t take the monkey off our back, but at least it loosens its grip.”

The loss was the 13th in 14 games for the Nordiques.

The Kings’ Steve Kasper opened the scoring at nine minutes of the first period, taking a pass from Gretzky on a two-on-one breakaway and lifting a shot from the slot over goaltender Scott Gordon.

A power-play goal at 15:57 gave the Kings a 2-0 lead.

With Jeff Jackson of the Nordiques in the penalty box for high-sticking John Tonelli, Tonelli planted himself in the slot, took a pass from Gretzky and rifled a shot off Gordon’s right side and into the net.

At 6:34 of the second period, Luc Robitaille made it 3-0, scoring a power-play goal with Paul Gillis of the Nordiques off for roughing. A deflection of a shot from the top of the slot by Steve Duchesne was chased down behind the net by Dave Taylor, who fed the puck back out in front to Robitaille.

The goal was Robitaille’s 41st.

King goaltender Mario Gosselin, who lost a shutout against the Nordiques Dec. 21 at the Forum when he gave up a goal with 1:19 remaining in a 6-1 rout, faced only 10 shots in the first two periods.

Jackson scored on the last of those shots, skating in alone on a breakaway after taking a pass from Claude Loiselle and beating Gosselin, a former teammate, with a shot to the stick side at 19:08.

Jackson’s fifth goal cut the Nordiques’ deficit to 3-1.

The Kings scored four goals in the first nine minutes of the third period.

Gretzky took a pass from Sandstrom at 1:32 and, from the right circle, beat Gordon to the short side. At 3:53, with Mike Krushelnyski of the Kings in the penalty box for interference, Sandstrom and Gretzky switched roles, with Sandstrom taking a pass from Gretzky and scoring a short-handed goal.

Gretzky scored again at 8:27, banging a shot from behind the baseline off Gordon’s pads and into the net.

Bob Kudelski scored his 19th goal only 22 seconds later.

King Notes

Goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who has missed seven of the Kings’ last eight games and whose condition was diagnosed last week as mononucleosis, said he hopes to play Monday. “I’m really encouraged by the way I feel,” he said. “I’m a lot stronger.” . . . Luc Robitaille of the Kings, whose second-period goal was his 41st of the season, has scored at least 40 goals in each of the last four seasons, a feat matched only by Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Four other players have a chance to equal the feat in the last one-fourth of the season, including Wayne Gretzky, who has scored at least 40 goals in each of his 10 NHL seasons.

After scoring on only two of 16 power-play opportunities during a four-game trip, the Kings scored three power-play goals in five manpower advantages against the Nordiques. . . . The Kings will play the Washington Capitals Monday at 1 p.m. at the Forum. It’s their only home day game this season.