Kings Have No Defense, Lose 6-3

So much for the new defense.

After trumpeting their new, conservative, stay-at-home defensive game plan throughout training camp and demonstrating it in their season opener, the Kings reverted to something that looked all too much like their old defense Saturday night at the Forum, losing to the Vancouver Canucks, 6-3, before a crowd of 13,753.

It was a night when the Kings should have stayed at home.

Vancouver scored early and often, making the most of 23 shots off goalie Kelly Hrudey.

The Kings, on the other hand, despite outshooting Vancouver by eight, couldn’t generate enough offense to stay in the game. Not even a two-goal, four-point night by Luc Robitaille was enough.

So the team that gave up the second-highest number of goals in the Campbell Conference a year ago, evened its record at 1-1 by losing to Vancouver, the team with the conference’s worst record a year ago.

The Kings defense deserted them in the first period.

Despite a one-man advantage early in the game, the Kings lost the puck when Marty McSorley and Tony Granato sandwiched Petr Nedved along the boards.

When McSorley fell to the ice with a twisted knee, Garth Butcher came out of the crowd with the puck and carried it down the right side before delivering it to Robert Kron on the opposite side.

Kron fired from the left circle, putting the puck past Hrudey on the short side from 45 feet for the short-handed goal 3:45 into the game.

The Canucks increased their advantage at 9:03, Trevor Linden scoring from the right circle on Hrudey’s glove side.

The Canuck onslaught continued late in the period. This time, Kron was on the passing end, skating down the left side before centering a pass for Ronnie Stern in the crease.

Unchecked, Stern lifted the puck over the sprawling Hrudey at 16:29.

Twenty-three seconds later, Todd Elik got the Kings’ first score, putting in his own rebound.

Robitaille, starting his fifth NHL season, had an assist on the play, the 200th of his career.

The Canucks were back on the offensive in the second period, Butcher scoring from 50 feet on the right side at the 2:08 mark.

At this point, Hrudey, who nearly had a shutout in Thursday’s opener, had faced 11 shots and given up four goals.

Nothing was working for Hrudey. Not even his own defense.

According to the scoring sheet, the Canucks’ fifth goal was scored by Dave Capuano. In reality, Capuano’s shot over the middle was inadvertently kicked in by Larry Robinson as he attempted to deflect it.

As he slipped, Robinson’s skate hit the puck squarely, making him look like Mike Lansford on skates.

When Robinson missed a shot at the other end on a power play, Robitaille put in the rebound at the 15:51 mark of the second period to cut the Vancouver margin to 5-2.

But the Kings blew a chance to get even closer.

Craig Coxe was charged with a double-minor at 14:46 of the period. After Robitaille’s goal, Robert Nordmark was subsequently hit with a slashing penalty, giving the Kings a two-man advantage for one minute. But they failed to take advantage, missing three shots.

Robitaille added his second goal off a pass from Rob Blake on a power play with 3:16 to play, but, by then, it was too little too late.

Petri Skriko closed out the scoring with Vancouver’s sixth goal.

Kings Notes

Two King defensemen left the game with injuries. Marty McSorley didn’t return after suffering a twisted right knee in the first period. His status for the Kings’ next game is unknown. Tim Watters, hit in the ribs in the second period, returned briefly, but then went to a nearby hospital for precautionary X-rays in the third period. . . . Vancouver center Petr Nedved, the No. 1 pick in the June draft, came to terms with the Canucks with only two hours to spare. Faced with a midnight deadline last Wednesday, Nedved agreed to a two-year deal plus an option season for a total amount believed to be $750,000, including a bonus. Had Nedved failed to sign by midnight, his rights would have reverted to his junior team. . . . The first of Dave Taylor’s two assists Saturday moved him past Maurice Richard into 31st place on the all-time points list with 966.