Overtime Was Right for Kings : Hockey: Krushelnyski wondered what the excitement was about after his goal in second extra period.

Mike Krushelnyski was the last to know.

The hero of one of the biggest victories in Kings’ history, cheered by a Forum crowd of 16,005, hugged by delirious teammates, had no idea what he had done as he lay on his stomach on the Forum ice Saturday night. The Kings had beaten the Calgary Flames, 4-3, at 3:14 of the second overtime to win the Smythe Division semifinal in six games.

It wasn’t until he reached the locker room and watched a replay of the final seconds that he learned he had scored the winning goal.

The Kings had scored first, but Calgary appeared to have forced a seventh game when it led, 3-2, heading into the final two minutes of regulation play. Steve Duchesne’s goal with 1:43 to play forced the overtime.

For the Flames, a loss meant the loss of the Stanley Cup for the players and perhaps the loss of his job for Coach Terry Crisp.

For the Kings, a loss meant returning to Calgary for Game 7.

So, both sides skated through the first overtime with extreme caution, playing tight defense, avoiding penalties, looking for the perfect shot.

The intensity was epitomized by Marty McSorley and Gary Roberts, who collided head-on, rattling the boards.

Then, at 17:37 of the first overtime, came the disputed non-goal by the Flames’ Doug Gilmour. The puck appeared to go in and the red light came on, but the goal was disallowed.

At 18:29, it became the longest game in Kings’ history, surpassing the 1976 game against the Boston Bruins won by the Kings on a Butch Goring shot at 18:28 of overtime.

Forgotten was Wayne Gretzky’s sore back, Kelly Hrudey’s bout with mononucleosis and a hundred aches and pains.

Finally, slightly more than three minutes into the second overtime, Duchesne fired from the right side, goalie Mike Vernon blocking the shot.

The puck came to rest about 15 feet from the net in the slot near Krushelnyski, who had fallen to the ice after being tackled by Brian MacLellan.

“I still had both hands on my stick,” Krushelnyski said. “I thought maybe I could get a piece of the puck, but I had no idea where it was going.”

So, with MacLellan still on top of him, Krushelnyski swung his stick like a batter trying to uppercut a low pitch.

In front of the net, Steve Kasper was tied up with Brad McCrimmon. Kasper, with his back to Krushelnyski, had no idea what was happening. McCrimmon saw the puck coming over his head and swiped at it, but missed.

That left Vernon.

Knocked off his feet, the goalie had risen to his knees when he saw the puck heading his way.

If he had been standing, he could easily have blocked it.

But he wasn’t. So he stretched his arm.

“It just fluttered over (the) top of me,” Vernon said. “I couldn’t get at it. It’s the type of thing (you) wish your arm was about 10 feet long. It’s frustrating to see it, but you can’t get at it.”

As Vernon strained ever farther, his momentum carried him backward. He crashed into the back of the net, the puck landing softly behind him.

Despite the uproar from the Forum crowd, neither Krushelnyski nor MacLellan, still prone on the ice, knew what had happened.

“I saw they had scored,” MacLellan said. “I thought somebody else had scored the goal. I couldn’t believe he (Krushelnyski) scored. That was a freak shot. You couldn’t do that if you tried to do it.”

Krushelnyski was in a daze as his teammates mobbed him.

“The crowd went crazy,” he said. “I thought maybe the puck had hit Stevie (Kasper) or the goalie. The guys came up and patted me on the head and I didn’t really know why.

“I had just batted at it. I wasn’t aiming or anything. I still had enough strength. I got good wood on it and it went in, thank you.”

It was a fitting ending to the series. There was Duchesne kicking the puck out of the goal area to salvage the Kings’ first victory. There was Tony Granato’s overtime goal for the Kings’ second victory.

King Notes

The Kings will next play the winner of tonight’s seventh game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Oilers. . . . The Kings will be on the road for Games 1 and 2 Wednesday and Friday. Games 3 and 4 will be at the Forum Sunday and April 24.