It Was Just the Way Kings Planned It : Hockey: New strategy works in 4-1 victory over Islanders. Gretzky gets two goals and an assist. Granato, Bjugstad also score.

As King General Manager Rogie Vachon stared intently at the Forum ice Thursday night in the final period of his team’s 4-1 opening-night victory over the New York Islanders, a fan yelled, “Relax, Rogie! You’re looking good.”

It may be a little early to relax. Or to form any lasting judgments.

But there can be no argument that the Kings looked good in their 1990-91 debut before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

It wasn’t only the strong offensive effort. Or the two goals by Wayne Gretzky. Or his three points.

Those are to be expected from an offensive powerhouse like the Kings.

No, it was the defensive effort that brought a smile to the face of Coach Tom Webster.

He spent the summer planning a new, conservative, stay-at-home defensive game plan and the autumn implementing it in training camp.

But until Thursday, he couldn’t say for sure whether it would work.

But work it did, at least against the Islanders, admittedly no longer among the NHL’s scoring machines.

The Kings outshot New York, 44-29, and the Islanders’ only goal, scored by Derek King, was inadvertently tipped in by the Kings’ Kelly Hrudey and Larry Robinson.

Much of the preseason talk about the new-look defense centered on 20-year-old Rob Blake, touted as a rookie of the year candidate.

He did nothing to disappoint Thursday, playing solid defense and getting a pair of assists on power plays while demonstrating a level of poise unexpected from someone appearing in his 13th NHL game.

“I think he’s a serious candidate (for top rookie honors),” said King owner Bruce McNall. “He plays great defense. He gets points. He’s everything.”

Confronted with such praise, Blake simply lowers his head sheepishly and stares at the floor.

“I’m just trying to make the team,” he insisted.

Shouldn’t be a problem.

For all the concern about the Kings’ defense heading into the season, it was the offense that struggled to get into gear at the start.

The Kings missed their first 13 shots on goal.

And they needed a two-man first-period advantage to finally break through.

With Rich Pilon in the New York penalty box for hooking and Jeff Finley for cross-checking, Blake, in the left circle, backhanded a pass to Luc Robitaille in the middle.

Robitaille nearly blew the scoring opportunity, shoveling the puck directly into the path of a New York defenseman in front of the net, but it caromed off the defenseman’s skate to the right corner where Gretzky was perched all alone.

With nine seconds remaining on the two-man advantage, Gretzky slammed home the Kings’ first goal of the season at the 12:40 mark.

Late in the first period, the Kings had run up an 18-3 shot advantage.

They increased their lead to 2-0 in the second period. Bob Kudelski, carrying the puck down the right side, froze Pilon with a fancy move and fired a shot that goalie Glenn Healy blocked. But the puck came back to Kudelski, who sent it across the middle to Scott Bjugstad on the opposite side. Bjugstad backhanded the puck past a diving Healy 4:02 into the period.

At the 18:46 mark, Gretzky got his second goal when his shot from the middle of the right circle on a power play ricocheted off defenseman Joe Reekie and past a helpless Healy.

Tony Granato scored the final goal of the game with an assist from Gretzky.

When it was over, Blake was asked what he would have thought a year ago when he was still playing collegiate hockey at Bowling Green if he had been told Gretzky would be calling him one of the NHL’s top rookies 12 months later.

“I wouldn’t even answer,” he said. “I’d just walk away and shake my head.”

Thursday night, Blake had a lot of Kings nodding their heads, as if to say, “I told you so.”

King Notes

The Kings have bought out the termination contract of right wing Keith Crowder, ending his one-year stay with the club. . . . Cortisone shots have given defenseman Tom Laidlaw new hope in his struggle to return to the ice. Out since March 17 because of a back problem, Laidlaw has been pain-free since taking the shots. He’s hoping to start contact drills in a couple of weeks and be back in the lineup by November. A few weeks ago, Laidlaw, 32, thought his career might be over. “I’ve love to play another 10 years,” he said. “If not, I have to get on with my life” . . . Defensemen Brian Benning began his three-game suspension Thursday, the punishment for his cross check on Jari Kurri in the Kings-Edmonton Oilers record-setting brawl Feb. 28.

New York goalie Mark Fitzpatrick is expected to be released from Centinela Hospital Medical Center today after undergoing a biopsy for a swelling condition believed to be caused by a virus. . . . Pat LaFontaine, the Islanders’ top scorer last season, was in the lineup Thursday after refusing to play in the team’s final two exhibition games. LaFontaine, who will earn $450,000 this season with an option year left on his contract, is believed to be asking for a $4-million, six-year deal.