On This Night, Kings Don’t Have Ghost of a Chance, 9-4 : Hockey: Defense, Berthiaume finally let down in loss to the Rangers. New York puts it away with five goals in third period.

For the Kings, it was hauntingly familiar.

They came to Madison Square Garden Wednesday night as the No. 2 team in the NHL, a position achieved largely because of a tough, new-look defense.

But they lost to No. 1, the New York Rangers, 9-4, when that defense deserted them at the crucial moment, making the Kings look all too much like last season’s club.

That hasn’t been the case very often this season. In eight of their previous 12 games, the Kings had held the opposition to two or fewer goals. And they had won all eight.

In falling to 9-3-1, still good enough to lead the Smythe Division, the Kings gave up more than a quarter of their previous goals-allowed total for the season, having previously surrendered 33.

Even Daniel Berthiaume showed a few cracks in his previously impenetrable shield.

The surprise of the new season for the Kings, Berthiaume had begun play unbeaten in five starts with a 2.2 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.

Scrub those numbers.

By the time the shell-shocked Berthiaume gave way to Kelly Hrudey 2:16 into the third period, he had given up six goals on 30 shots, more than half his previous season total of 11.

“It happens to every club in the league,” Wayne Gretzky said. “We lost to Vancouver, 6-3, and we regrouped. We lost to Winnipeg, 6-2, and we regrouped. We’ll regroup again.”

Something bad usually seems to happen to visiting teams in the final period at Madison Square Garden. Wednesday was no exception.

For 40 minutes, these teams battled on nearly even terms, the Rangers holding on to a 4-3 advantage.

Then came the third period.

Three goals in a little more than three minutes, and the Kings weren’t a factor again.

Before the period had ended, the Rangers had outscored the Kings, 5-1, giving them a 19-2 edge over visiting teams in final periods.

As a result, the Rangers are off to the best start on home ice in team history, having won their first eight.

Overall, they are atop the Patrick Division with an 11-3 record.

“Our teams knows that you go while the going is good,” Ranger Coach Roger Neilson said. “Our experience from last year will keep us on an even keel. We went from first to last (in the division), but wound up first.”

That this game would wind up the way it did didn’t seem too likely early on.

The first period ended 2-2, the Rangers getting goals from Kevin Miller (his fourth) and Brian Mullen (his seventh and 500th career point).

The Kings countered with Tony Granato (seventh goal) and Gretzky (team-leading ninth).

But it was the Kings who were more aggressive, taking 19 shots to the Rangers’ 10.

“The final score could have been 10-10,” Neilson said. “They attacked us with four men all night. But it seemed like every time we had a scoring chance, we scored.”

The Rangers’ second-period goals were accounted for by Paul Broten (second) and Ray Sheppard (third).

Brad Jones kept the Kings close with his second goal.

The last two times these teams met last season, the spotlight was on Bernie Nicholls, who came here in January in the trade for Granato and Tomas Sandstrom.

Nicholls, who began the night with 17 points, ended the same way, despite all the scoring.

As a matter of fact, he spent the first half of the final period off the ice.

He was still a key factor in the game, however, because with 47 seconds to play in the second period, Nicholls became involved in a dispute that ultimately also included Granato, Sandstrom and Rod Buskas of the Kings and Kris King of the Rangers.

“I came in and grabbed Tomas,” Nicholls said. “Tony came over and hit me in the head. Then I cross-checked him in the head.”

When peace was finally restored, both Granato and Nicholls were assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties.

“I don’t understand it,” Gretzky said. “Those two guys are not heavyweights. I don’t understand giving that kind of penalty to two guys as valuable to their clubs as they are.”

The Rangers never missed Nicholls, beginning their game-deciding blitz as the final period began.

It went as follows:

--Brian Leetch scored his fifth goal, putting the puck through Marty McSorley’s legs and by Berthiaume’s glove from 25 feet out at 1:12.

--John Ogrodnick was given credit for his fifth goal, and his first of two on the night, when defenseman Steve Duchesne, clearing the puck out of his own crease, bounced it off fellow defenseman Tim Watters back into the net at 2:16.

--Darren Turcotte scored his seventh goal. After Hrudey replaced Berthiaume, he blocked a shot, but the puck fell between his pads. Turcotte, on the spot, shoved it in at 3:07.

It was that kind of a night.

The kind of a night when the Rangers’ got a short-handed goal, Jan Erixon scoring for the second time this season.

The kind of a night when the Kings, who had scored at least one power-play goal in 11 of their previous 12 games, went zero for six in that department, while allowing the Rangers to score on three of four power plays.

The kind of a night you wouldn’t want to face the Rangers. Certainly not in the third period at the Garden.