Webster Can’t Stick It Out to See Kings Lose to Flames : Hockey: Coach is ejected for throwing a stick as his team’s winless streak reaches eight games against Calgary, 4-1.

Things have gotten so bad for the Kings that even Coach Tom Webster has picked up a stick.

Not to shoot the puck. He knows he would be just as bad at that as his players have been of late.

No, Webster threw his stick in the direction of referee Ron Hoggarth at the Forum Thursday night.

Webster wasn’t trying to hurt anybody, just let off a little steam and, perhaps, motivate his team. He got a bonus when he was ejected, allowing him to avoid watching his team extend its winless streak to eight games with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

Suddenly, the Kings, atop the Smythe Division by four points over the Flames a couple of weeks ago, are five down after going 0-4-4.

Gone is the conservative game plan. Gone is the tight checking. Gone is the nearly faultless goaltending.

And gone, for now, are the Kings (16-9-5) from the top of the Smythe.

Webster became angered in the second period when the Kings’ Brad Jones and Calgary’s Jamie Macoun tangled in a corner. Blows were exchanged. Jones went down, but there was no whistle.

The Flames skated to the other end and scored.

Furious, Webster picked up a nearby stick and looked like the first entry in the 1992 Olympic javelin throw.

But what had to be really angering him was his Kings, who have negated their best start by falling back into their old, bad habits.

Did Webster fire the stick in order to fire up his troops?

“I really can’t comment on that right now,” he said. “I’d better mind my p’s and q’s on that one.”

He then added, indicating his stick trick was motivational, “Unfortunately, it didn’t work.”

His goalie, Kelly Hrudey, didn’t fault Webster for trying.

“I’m all in favor of doing whatever you have to do,” Hrudey said. “If the coach is doing something to motivate us, I stand behind that. It was good.”

But not good enough to end a slide that began on Nov. 25 when the Kings twice blew two-goal leads to finish tied, 4-4, with the Nordiques.

The Flames are at the other end of the spectrum. The win improved their recent road record to 5-0-3, their overall mark to 19-10-4 and gives them a 9-1-1 mark against Smythe opponents.

Hrudey didn’t see Calgary’s first goal until it was too late.

Frank Musil fired the puck from just inside the blue line, but, with several Flames and King defenseman Brian Benning in the slot, Hrudey was screened.

The goal, Musil’s second of the season, broke a scoreless tie 1:10 into the second period.

The Flames’ second goal came just after the disputed confrontation between Jones and Macoun.

The Flames got a two-on-one rush when Steve Duchesne was left behind by Doug Gilmour. That left Jay Miller with Theoren Fleury coming down the right side and Gilmour on the left.

When Miller made a move toward Fleury, the Flame wing put the puck on Gilmour’s stick at the left post.

Gilmour flipped it past the helpless Hrudey at 9:56 for his sixth goal.

The Kings cut the margin in half on a power play, Tony Granato scoring his 14th goal at 18:18 of the second period.

It was one of the few times the Kings have taken advantage of a man advantage over the past few weeks.

Entering play Thursday, the Kings were four for 29 on the power play over the seven previous games of the winless streak.

Gary Roberts added his eighth goal at 9:30 of the final period and Joe Nieuwendyk finished the scoring with his 18th into an empty net with 32 seconds to play.

“I felt that we hit rock bottom against the Rangers (a 6-4 loss Tuesday night),” Hrudey said. “We’re trying to come back, but you don’t stop the bleeding in one game.

“Everybody starts to try doing too much when things are going bad. You get the feeling you can be the one to turn it around. That’s dandy, but it can cause more problems than it solves. I don’t think that was the case tonight, but everybody tries to be a hero and it doesn’t work that way.”

King Notes

Defenseman Tom Laidlaw, out since last spring with a back injury, hopes to be back in a couple of weeks. He is practicing regularly with the team while continuing to moonlight as the color commentator on King radio broadcasts. . . . Wing Tomas Sandstrom, out since Nov. 29 with a small fracture in the lower back, will not accompany the team on its week-long road trip, which begins Monday. He is hoping to be ready by the start of the next home stand Dec. 27. . . . Forward Scott Bjugstad has been sent to the Kings’ Phoenix Roadrunner farm team for two weeks of conditioning. . . . Defenseman Rick Hayward, just recalled from Phoenix, is out with a shoulder injury.