Gretzky Gets 5 Points, Kings 1 : Hockey: Los Angeles scores twice in final 1:31 to catch Edmonton, 5-5. Gretzky has four assists and tying goal.

As he stood and watched the puck rattle around in the Edmonton Oilers’ net Thursday night, Wayne Gretzky lifted his arms and screamed with joy, looking as if he were about to raise the Stanley Cup.

Gretzky didn’t win a Cup Thursday, just some much-needed confidence and respect for his Kings with a come-from-behind 5-5 tie against the defending Cup champions before a Forum crowd of 13,831.

After blowing a two-goal lead, and trailing by two with a minute and a half to play, the Kings scored twice in 42 seconds to tie the game.

Tomas Sandstrom scored on a breakaway off a pass from Gretzky with 1:31 to play.

And then Gretzky tied the score with 49 seconds left on his first goal and fifth point of the night.

Gretzky was on the bench when Coach Tom Webster pulled goalie Kelly Hrudey, but Webster quickly sent Gretzky in.

“He went right to the front of the net, where he was supposed to,” Webster said.

And there Gretzky camped, until Steve Kasper, on the left side, spotted him alone at the right post.

“I never really get open against them,” said Gretzky of his former teammates. “I had a little time.”

Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford spotted Gretzky, but a little too late. Gretzky took the pass from Kasper and shoved the puck home as Ranford dove to the ice. “I was excited,” Gretzky said of his celebration. “It was an important win, especially the way we came back.”

Especially since it was the Kings’ first game against one of the NHL’s big boys after opening the season against the New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks, two of the league’s weaker teams.

And especially since the Kings had to overcome the ejection of one of their remaining veteran defensemen, Steve Duchesne, for high sticking and drawing blood from Craig Simpson, and an Oiler lead that looked insurmountable with less than two minutes to play.

The Kings are 2-1-1, Edmonton 1-0-2.

In the first period, Rob Blake, at the top of the left circle, took a pass from Gretzky on the right side and slid the puck past the stick of Craig MacTavish and under Ranford’s glove to give the Kings a 1-0 lead 9:03 into the game.

That was the fifth point of the season for Blake, 20, who had played in only a dozen NHL games coming into this season.

Another power play enabled the Kings to take a 2-0 lead in the second period. Larry Robinson, coming down the left side, fed Sandstrom in the slot. From there, Sandstrom, who had four points, scored between Ranford’s pads at the 2:29 mark.

But, near the middle of the second period, it became a different game.

The Oilers turned on the offense that led them to last year’s Stanley Cup title and the Kings fell back to the defense that has left them in the cold all too often.

Before the period had ended, Edmonton scored four times in the following fashion:

--Goal No. 1 at 8:07. Petr Klima came face to face with King defenseman Rene Chapdelaine, but skated around him as Chapdelaine slipped to the ice, then fed the puck to the unchecked Anatoli Semenov, who shoved it in from the left side.

--Goal No. 2 at 12:31. MacTavish, unchecked in front of the net, redirected a shot by Geoff Smith through a helpless Hrudey’s pads.

--Goal No. 3 at 15:25. This time, Semenov was unchecked in the slot. Taking a centering pass from Esa Tikkanen, Semenov, without a defenseman within reach, had time to pause and aim before ramming the puck in on Hrudey’s stick side from 20 feet out.

--Goal No. 4 at 17:44. Ken Linseman skated down the ice with defender Dennis Smith on his back. But Linseman kept his balance, kept the puck and, despite Smith’s best efforts, flipped it past Hrudey.

The Kings had a great opportunity to come back in the final period when Klima was hit with a five-minute major and automatic game misconduct for ramming the end of his stick into Brad Jones’ stomach.

With five penalty minutes to tie up the game, the Kings scored on their first shot, Gretzky centering a pass for Tony Granato. From the slot, Granato, at the 7:10 mark, scored between Ranford’s pads, bringing the Kings to within one goal at 4-3.

But the Kings failed to score again on the extended penalty, missing their only three shots.

Instead, it was the Oilers who scored, getting a short-handed goal at 11:03 on a backhander by MacTavish to extend the lead to 5-3.

King Notes

The Canadian government is asking for back taxes on affected members of the Edmonton Oilers for their rings from the 1987 Stanley Cup finals. That has drawn outrage from the organization for what is believed to be a test case. If the government is successful in collecting, assessments could be made on all Canadians who won Stanley Cup rings over the last five years. The value of the rings has been set at $3,000. “It seems to me a Stanley Cup ring is as much a part of the uniform as anything,” Edmonton General Manager Glen Sather said. “What’s next,” one club official asked, “engagement rings?”

King defenseman Marty McSorley practiced with the team Thursday before sitting out his second game with a twisted knee. He is expected back by Saturday’s game against the Boston Bruins. Fellow defenseman Tim Watters (bruised ribs) and is not expected back by the weekend.