Kings Not So Hot in Calgary : Hockey: Flames’ 6-3 victory ends six-game winning streak for Los Angeles. Smythe Division lead is cut to one point.

The Kings were flying high coming into Calgary, propelled by the momentum of the fastest start in their history and a winning streak nearing record proportions.

But they made a crash landing, brought back to earth by the Flames, who served notice that they aren’t about to meekly surrender the Smythe Division title they have held for three years.

The division-leading Kings went down in flames to Calgary, 6-3, Thursday night before a sellout Olympic Saddledome crowd of 20,132, cutting the distance between the teams to one point.

“Nobody is going to hand us first place,” Wayne Gretzky said. “It’s a battle and it’s going to go on.”

The Kings never doubted the road to a division title went through Calgary. They just would have preferred that left wing Luc Robitaille came along for the ride this time.

Instead, he’s home, serving a four-game suspension for a stick foul.

But this game wasn’t lost on the Kings’ wing as much as it was won in the Calgary net.

Goalie Rick Wamsley, a perennial tormentor of the Kings, was again equal to the task.

Although he allowed the three goals, he turned away 29 other shots, several of them on strong saves.

The result was the end of the Kings’ winning streak at six games, two short of the club record.

In dropping to 15-5-1, the Kings are clinging to their division lead with 31 points to the Flames’ 30.

Calgary is 14-8-2.

As good as Wamsley was, it proved a tough night for him.

In the second period, Dave Taylor, pushed by Gary Suter, ran over the Calgary goalie. As Wamsley tumbled to the ice, his head hit the net.

And just when he recovered from that blow, he found himself subjected to another attack, this one from a Kings team that pulled itself together after falling behind, 4-1.

Calgary’s goals by Robert Reichel (his fifth), Theoren Fleury (11th) and Mark Hunter (fourth) broke up what had been a goaltenders’ duel between Wamsley and Kelly Hrudey, a matchup that was scoreless until the middle of the second period when the Flames broke through.

A key moment came after time had expired in the second period when the Kings’ Marty McSorley and Gary Roberts got into a fight near the team benches. McSorley was penalized for cross-checking, giving Calgary a power play at the start of the final period.

It was on that power play that Hunter scored the goal that gave the Flames a 3-0 lead.

After Steve Duchesne got the Kings on the board with his sixth goal on a power play, Reichel struck again with his second goal of the night, also on a power play.

But the Kings, with 12 1/2 minutes still to play, weren’t ready to concede.

Two quick goals by Tomas Sandstrom, at 7:42 and 9:48 of the final period, brought the Kings back within a goal at 4-3.

For Sandstrom, it was his 13th and 14th goals of the season, tying him with Gretzky for the team lead. It was also Sandstrom’s fourth and fifth in the last two games.

But, with 1:02 to play, McSorley was unable to hold off the onrushing Doug Gilmour in the slot. Gilmour whipped the puck past Hrudey for his fourth goal and the Kings’ hopes of opening some space in the division race were dashed.

Sergei Makarov added his 10th goal in the final minute as the Flames improved their Saddledome record to 8-2-1.

As bad as the night was for the Kings, it was worse for one of their newest teammates.

Center John McIntyre, obtained from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade for Mike Krushelnyski recently, was injured in the first period when he was hit under the eye in a collision with Hunter.

And then, sitting on the bench, McIntyre was hit again by an errant puck that flew over the boards and struck him on the same side of the face.

He didn’t return, but was believed to be suffering from nothing more serious than a headache.

When it was over, the Kings flew to Montreal to continue this five-game trip.

But they weren’t flying out quite as high as they flew in.

King Notes

Calgary left wing Colin Patterson learned Wednesday that his season is probably over before it started. Patterson needs major reconstructive surgery on his right knee, the result of an injury he suffered in the exhibition season. The earliest Patterson could be back is May when the Flames could already be on vacation. . . . The only other injured Flame is center Joel Otto, who suffered a charley horse Wednesday when he collided with Tim Hunter in practice. . . . The Flames were 9-4 in October, giving them 18 points, most ever in that month.