Kings Fail to Answer the Call Again, 4-1

If you are a valuable commodity on a struggling team and you get a call from your general manager late at night, you have to expect the worst.

Except in Luc Robitaille’s case.

The night before the Kings lost to the New York Rangers, 4-1, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, General Manager Rogie Vachon called his high-scoring wing in his Manhattan hotel room. Vachon told him to ignore a rumor circulating in the Boston media that had Robitaille and defenseman Steve Duchesne being traded to the Bruins for defenseman Glen Wesley and center Craig Janney. Don’t you believe it, Vachon told Robitaille.

Wednesday night, after one of the Kings’ most uninspired efforts of the season, Vachon wasn’t ready to alter his resolve. He will stick with the players he has.

At least for now.

But Vachon also made it clear he isn’t pleased with very many of those players.

“We had people not showing up for the game,” Vachon said after the game.

“They (the Rangers) were ready to be had in the first period, but we didn’t take advantage. I’m disappointed with the effort. Too many guys played just average tonight.

“The effort has been there before, but tonight, I’m disappointed in a lot of people. Not just one or two.”

Robitaille has been one of the few who hasn’t been a disappointment on offense recently. Of the Kings’ last 57 goals, Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky and Dave Taylor have 27, nearly half.

The offense was nowhere to be found again Wednesday. The Kings had nine shots on goal in the first period and a total of only 14 through two periods, when they were still in the game.

Part of the problem was the Patrick Division-leading Rangers (22-13-7), who continue to play excellent defense, especially at home. They have outscored the opposition, 32-15, in the final period of their 21 games at the Garden this season.

But neither Vachon nor King Coach Tom Webster was willing to let it go at that.

“We didn’t hit the net,” Webster said. “That’s the story of tonight. We need somebody to put the puck in the net.”

John Tonelli scored his eighth goal of the season for the Kings. It came during the third period after New York had moved out in front on goals by Mike Gartner (21st), Kelly Kisio (fifth) and John Ogrodnick (18th).

The Rangers’ final goal came after King goalie Kelly Hrudey had been pulled with slightly more than two minutes to play. Kris King lofted a shot from the blue line that looked more like a chip shot with a nine-iron than a hockey shot.

But it looked great to the sellout crowd of 16,792 when it landed in the empty net for King’s fifth goal.

Gretzky had a shot at his 700th career goal in the second period when Todd Elik put the puck on his stick in front of the New York net. But Gretzky didn’t have time to react and the puck wound up safely nestled under the legs of Ranger goalie Mike Richter, who stopped 21 shots.

It was a tough night for Gretzky, who was checked hard by two Ranger lines, one centered by Kevin Miller, the other by Darren Turcotte.

But Gretzky shrugged off the rough contact.

“I’ve played too many years,” he said, “and seen too many checkers to get frustrated over what happened tonight.”

Shrugging off the Kings’ slump, however, is not so easy.

The loss dropped the Kings to 3-9-4 in their last 16 games, their overall mark dipping to 19-14-5.

The slide has coincided with the loss of wing Tomas Sandstrom, who was on a goal-scoring tear when he was sidelined because of a fracture in the lower back.

Sandstrom missed 10 games before returning last Saturday night.

“He’s not in shape,” Webster said.

“His timing is not on. It’s going to take some time. He’s playing through a difficult injury and I really admire him for it.”

So the trade winds have been calmed, but expect them to continue to blow as long as the Kings continue to slump.

And unless the team can turn things around, Vachon’s next late-night call to one of his players might not be reassuring news.