Kings’ Forum Streak Ends, 4-3 : NHL: Maple Leafs, of all people, do the trick. Krushelnyski gets a chance to visit newborn son in Los Angeles.

For the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was merely another stop on the long and winding road of an endless season.

But for one Maple Leaf, center Mike Krushelnyski, it was a chance to stop the loneliness and introduce himself to the son he barely knew.

Krushelnyski, traded by the Kings to the Maple Leafs several weeks ago, had only spent 48 hours with his newborn son, Alexander, before departing for Toronto.

But he celebrated his return Saturday night with a goal and an assist as the Maple Leafs shocked the Kings, 4-3, at the Forum before a surprised sellout crowd of 16,005.

The Kings, unbeaten in a club-record 11 consecutive games on home ice, knew it couldn’t last forever.

But the Maple Leafs?

They began play with only 11 points, lowest total in the NHL. They were only 5-22-1. They were 1-11 on the road.

But this was a night when the funny bounces of the puck proved more crucial than all the numbers.

The Maple Leafs scored one goal on a squibbed shot.

The Kings lost a goal when the puck hit the crossbar, bounced along the top of the net and then flew off and out of the crease.

But the strangest bounce of all was reserved for the deciding goal.

It came in the second period when King goalie Daniel Berthiaume chased the puck all the way to the side boards on the left.

Catching up to it, he tried to hit it down the side, but, instead, put it right on the stick of Toronto left wing Vincent Damphousse.

From there, Damphouse backhanded the puck into the empty net by bouncing it off the stick of Berthiaume, still only several feet away from him. The goal came at 15:58 of the second period.

The loss, only the Kings’ second at home, lowered their Forum mark to 11-2-1 and their overall record to 16-7-3.

More important, it dropped their Smythe Division lead to two points over the Calgary Flames, 5-3 winners over Montreal Saturday night.

Krushelnyski had a big Saturday night, but his biggest moment came earlier when he and his teammates landed.

“I couldn’t sleep on the plane,” he said. “It was really touching at the airport. My wife (Areta) had our other child (two-year-old Andrew) there and the little guy came running to me, yelling, ‘Daddy! Daddy!’ ”

Krushelnyski had a part in Toronto’s second and third goals.

The second started off looking like hockey’s equivalent of an air ball when Dave Ellett hit a poor shot from inside the blue line that had the trajectory of a balloon with a bad leak.

But the puck still had enough momentum to reach Krushelnyski, who was positioned on the left side about 10 feet out.

The former King deflected the puck through Berthiaume’s pads at the 10:30 mark of the first period for his third goal of the season, and second as a Maple Leaf.

Krushelnyski also got an assist on Wendel Clark’s ninth goal.

Daniel Marois had Toronto’s first goal, his ninth.

Scoring for the Kings were Jay Miller (fourth), Dave Taylor (sixth) and Luc Robitaille (11th). But with only four shots in the final period, the Kings couldn’t close the gap, winding up their worst week of the season with an 0-2-2 record.

“We can’t get too down,” King Tony Granato said, “just like we couldn’t get too excited before. It’s one bad week. There’s no reason to panic.”

King Notes

With Tomas Sandstrom out with a small fracture in the lower back, Coach Tom Webster started Brad Jones in his place. . . . Center John McIntyre injured his left shoulder in a third-period collision and left for further examination at a nearby hospital. . . . Defenseman Marty McSorley is day to day with a pulled muscle in the rib area. . . . The Kings For Kids toy drive will be held at both Winnipeg games. Fans are asked to bring unwrapped toys, which will be donated to the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County for the holidays.