Time to Worry, Be Unhappy : Hockey: The Kings lose to the Rangers, 6-4, after falling behind, 6-0. L.A.’s slump now is 0-3-4 during the last 2 1/2 weeks.

Now it’s time to be concerned.

Throughout a winless streak that has lasted 2 1/2 weeks, the Kings have insisted they weren’t worried, pointing out that they had tied four of the six games played over that span to hang onto their Smythe Division lead.

But Tuesday night at the Forum, there was no denying the glaring reality of the scoreboard.

New York Rangers 6, Kings 4.

The slump that the doubters had been predicting since the Kings’ meteoric start has arrived.

In embarrassing fashion.

“It was not very pretty,” King General Manager Rogie Vachon said. “Our system is breaking down a little. We’re just not as disciplined. We play one good period and then one bad period. I would call it a mild slump.”

It hardly looked mild through the first two periods Tuesday night when the Rangers took a 6-0 lead.

For the first 40 minutes, it was the kind of game that caused Bruce McNall, owner of the Kings, to trade Bernie Nicholls to the Rangers last season in search of help.

True, the Kings made it close at the end, but still lost while outshooting the Rangers, 37-22.

And suddenly, the Kings are staring up at the Calgary Flames, three points ahead in the Smythe Division.

The Kings are in an 0-3-4 slump with the Flames (Thursday) and Edmonton Oilers (Saturday)still to come on this home stand.

The Kings got a bad break to start with Tuesday.

And things kept going wrong from there.

With a little more than a minute gone in the game, Kris King appeared to be dumping the puck in from the left boards about 70 feet out.

That’s what King goalie Daniel Berthiaume figured would be the result as he skated over wideof the goal to clear the puck.

And that’s what defenseman Larry Robinson figured as he skated over to Berthiaume to get the puck.

And that’s what would have happened if Robinson hadn’t flicked his stick at the puck backhanded, trying to knock it down.

Instead, on a one-in-a-million bounce, the puck went off Robinson’s stick into theopen net as both Berthiaume and Robinson looked on helplessly.

Robinson skated over and commiserated with Berthiaume.

If they had known what was ahead, they might have simply skated off the ice together.

Before it was over, Berthiaume was yanked after giving up four goals, and Robinson was one of several Kings to commit costly turnovers that contributed to a total collapse.

The Rangers had come into town with a slump of their own to worry about. They had lost three in a row and five of their last six, their lead in the Patrick Division down to one point over the Philadelphia Flyers.

But they got well Tuesday night before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005.

The other Ranger goals were scored by Troy Mallette (his eighth and ninth), Mike Gartner (17th), Brian Mullen (eighth) and Normand Rochefort (first).

Nicholls had two assists in his first appearance in Los Angeles since shortly after the controversial trade last season that sent him east for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato.

The Kings didn’t score until the final period, when Dave Taylor’s seventh goal, Wayne Gretzky’s team-leading 18th and 19th and Luc Robitaille’s 15th made things a little more respectable.

The Rangers improved to 18-11-5. The Kings dropped to 16-8-5.

“We’re concerned,” Granato said. “You have to be when you are sleeping through one or two periods like we were tonight. Unless we wake up, we’re going to be chasing Calgary all year.”

The Kings will be getting a wakeup call in 24 hours, when the front-running Flames come knocking on their door.

King Notes

King wing Tomas Sandstrom, sidelined since Nov. 29 because of a small fracture in his lower back, is not expected to play before the end of the month, according to General Manager Rogie Vachon. Originally, it was hoped the recuperation period would only last a week or two and that Sandstrom would at least be skating in practice by now.

Defenseman Bob Halkidis, recalled from the Kings’ Phoenix farm team because of the rash of injuries, was scheduled to return to the Roadrunners today. . . . Bernie Nicholls began play Tuesday with 33 points in 33 games for the Rangers, including 12 goals. Sandstrom had topped him in goals and almost matched him in points in 25 games before being injured. Sandstrom has 17 goals and a total of 32 points. Tony Granato began play Tuesday with 25 points in 28 games, including 13 goals.

The Great Western Freeze-out, the annual Forum collegiate hockey tournament, will run Dec. 20-21. The four participants will be Michigan State, last season’s Central Collegiate Hockey Assn. champions, Boston College, the University of Minnesota and the University of Toronto. There will be doubleheaders both days, at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.