Gretzky, Kings Do a Pratfall : Hockey: King star has an off night in Detroit and the Red Wings score a 4-3 victory.

A great one it wasn’t.

Not for Wayne Gretzky.

Nor for the Kings, 4-3 losers to the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night.

Nobody can be great every night, but few games have been as frustrating or as uncharacteristic for Gretzky, who:

--Missed an open net from about three feet away in the third period.

--Got into a confrontation with two opponents. Even one would be a rarity for him.

--Slipped while making a turn with the puck and fell flat on the ice, illiciting one of the biggest cheers of the night from the Joe Louis Arena crowd of 19,875.

“You take a few slashes,” said Gretzky of his brief stick war with Rick Green. “You give a few back.”

Gretzky also traded gloves with Steve Chiasson later on.

Gretzky was not alone in his anger on this night.

Linemate Tomas Sandstrom spent nearly the last six minutes watching the game in the Kings’ clubhouse after being given a 10-minute misconduct for slamming the puck to the ice in anger at what he thought was a quick whistle.

And Coach Tom Webster spent about 10 minutes screaming behind closed doors and, by the sound of it, rearranging some furniture.

All in all, the kind of a night owner Bruce McNall must have been happy he skipped to attend to other business in New York.

“I threw the puck down in frustration,” Sandstrom said. “I shouldn’t do that. I can’t do that.

“We didn’t play as good as we have been. We can’t take any nights off. Especially on theroad.”

This five-game trip, which concludes Thursday night in St. Louis, has suddenly gotten very long and very tedious.

The Kings (16-6-2) can take solace in the fact that they remain on top of the Smythe Division by four points over the runner-up Calgary Flames, but they can’t be too happy about the last two games.

Sunday, they twice blew two-goal leads to finish tied with the lowly Quebec Nordiques.

And Tuesday, they came back from a two-goal deficit only to surrender the game-winning goal with slightly more than two minutes to play.

Marc Habscheid scored his sixth goal of the season in the first quarter to give Detroit the early lead, but, before the period was over, Bob Kudelski’s ninth goal had tied the score.

Shawn Burr (with his fourth goal) and John Chabot (second) pushed the Red Wings into a 3-1 lead.

Burr’s was a short-handed goal, the sixth of the season against the Kings. Entering play Tuesday, only the Philadelphia Flyers had given up as many.

But Dave Taylor’s fifth goal, coming on a power play, and Brad Jones’ third again tiedthe score at 15:24 of the final period.

Asked if he was concerned about the Kings’ recent play, Webster replied, “Hell, no. Why should I be?”

How about the winning goal, for openers.

With slightly more than two minutes to play, the Kings tried to clear the puck out of their own zone, but it hit the glass and grazed an official.

Chiasson jumped on the puck and dumped it behind the net, where Jimmy Carson caught up to it.

The Kings’ Larry Robinson pursued Carson, but, with Tim Watters heading in the same direction, the middle was wide open.

Open for Bob Probert, who was coming in on a line change.

He didn’t know if Carson saw him, so he tapped his stick on the ice.

Louder and louder.

“I was banging and banging,” Probert said. “I was sure it could be heard in the press box.”

No matter. Carson heard him.

And delivered a perfect pass that Probert smashed past a helpless Daniel Berthiaume with 2:05 to play.

It was Probert’s seventh goal, boosting Detroit to 11-10-3 and 10-3 at home.

Probert, noted as much for his fighting as anything, also got into two skirmishes, with Jay Miller and John McIntyre.

“It was vintage Probie,” said Probert with a toothless smile.

Cynics who remember the years of frustration might say it was also vintage Kings.

King Notes

Defenseman Marty McSorley sat out, resting the sore right shoulder he injured Sunday. . . . Left wing Luc Robitaille watched from the press box, serving out the final game of his four-game suspension for a stick foul.

The Red Wings outshot the Kings, 27-22. The Kings had only 11 shots in the first two periods against Detroit goalie Tim Cheveldae. . . . Before the game, the Red Wings announced they had traded defenseman Lee Norwood along with future considerations to the New Jersey Devils for left wing Paul Ysebaert.