Kings Lose 3-1 Lead and Game : Hockey: Vancouver wins, 4-3. L.A. ire is raised when anticipated penalty shot is lost in silence with 54 seconds to play.

For an instant, everybody was frozen on the ice.

And a game hung in the balance.

Vancouver Canuck defenseman Robert Nordmark stared at referee Rob Schick.

So did the rest of the Canucks. And the Kings. And a sellout Pacific Coliseum crowd of 16,123.

Finally, Schick did just what everybody but the Kings hoped for.

Nothing.

No whistle. No call, enabling the Canucks to hold onto a 4-3 victory Saturday night.

No fair, screamed the Kings, although their exact words were probably a little spicier.

The situation was this: Down by a goal, the Kings had pulled goalie Kelly Hrudey with a little more than a minute to go.

Attacking with six skaters, the Kings were making a final charge at Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean when, with 54 seconds to play, Nordmark hit the crossbar, knocking the Canuck net off its mooring.

If such a move is ruled deliberate in the final two minutes of a game, the attacking team is given a penalty shot.

When Schick failed to make that call, the Kings erupted. Even Wayne Gretzky went after Schick in an uncharacteristic outburst.

“It was a pretty gutless call,” said Todd Elik, the man closest to Nordmark. “I know I didn’t hit him or nothing.”

An apologetic Gretzky admitted he “was a little hot-headed about it. When a guy skates to the net and pushes it off, it’s a penalty. I guess he (Schick) didn’t see it.”

Teammate Luc Robitaille wasn’t so forgiving.

“That’s the way it is in this league,” he said. “In the third period, the rules are different. Always has been that way. Always will be.”

Schick was unavailable for comment, but Nordmark talked about the play.

“I tried to take Elik and bounced into the net,” Nordmark said, “but I was too tired to stop.”

Did he think a penalty should have been called?

“I don’t know,” Nordmark replied. “I don’t think so.”

The Kings didn’t threaten again, but blaming this loss on the non-call takes quite an imagination.

There was blame enough for everyone in a King uniform on a night when the team started fast, built a 3-1 first-period lead and then disappeared for the next 20 minutes.

The replacement of starting goalie Troy Gamble with McLean might have had something to do with the Canucks’ resurgence, but five shots on goal by the Kings in the second period had more to do with it.

“A lot of guys didn’t seem to want the puck tonight,” Robitaille said.

“I’m disappointed,” said King Coach Tom Webster. “We played a solid first period and then we sat back and did not go after them in the second. You can’t do that.”

Goals by Brian Benning (his third), Mike Donnelly (first) and John Tonelli (sixth) pushed the Kings into the early lead.

Gino Odjick’s fourth goal was all the Canucks had to show for the first 20 minutes.

But second-period goals by Jyrki Lumme (fourth) and Gred Adams (ninth) tied the game.

The Kings’ shooting difficulties continued into the first part of the third period. They had only one shot on goal in the first six minutes, but then woke and took 13 shots over the rest of the period to wind up outshooting Vancouver, 27-26.

It wasn’t enough. The winning goal came 7:31 into the final period. Kings defenseman Bob Halkidis, trying to clear the puck from the side of his own net, put it on the stick of Vancouver defenseman Kevan Guy.

And Guy promptly put it between Hrudey’s pads for his first goal of the season in his 24th game.

Hrudey, in obvious disgust, stared up at the roof as the Canucks celebrated.

The loss gave the Kings a 1-2 mark for the three-game trip, a 2-6-4 record since their slump began and an overall record of 18-11-5.

The Smythe Division-leading Calgary Flames also lost Saturday, so the Kings remain three points behind.

But they have to look both ways now. The Canucks improve to 17-17-3 and are only four points behind the Kings.

“We had that game,” said Robitaille, who had several shots at McLean in the final moments but couldn’t convert. “They were sleeping. We gave it to them.”

Call or no call.

King Notes

The Kings continue to squander opportunities on the power play. They were zero for three Saturday. On the three-game trip, they were successful on one of 13 attempts. . . . The news from the home front is not good for the Kings. Wing Tony Granato, who flew home Thursday, has a strained rib cartilage and will be out two to three weeks. Fellow wing Scott Bjugstad has a sprained knee and will be out three to four weeks. Wing Tomas Sandstrom continues to experience discomfort from the fracture in his lower back. He isn’t expected to return until the middle of January. Also home is defenseman Marty McSorley, out nearly a month with soreness in the rib cage. . . . Added to the already lengthy injured list is defenseman Rod Buskas, out with a strained chest muscle. . . . The Kings get a three-day holiday break, resume practice Wednesday and return to action Thursday night at the Forum against the Philadelphia Flyers.