Things Get Rough as Kings Stay Tough : Hockey: There are 244 penalty minutes in 6-3 victory, L.A.’s seventh in a row and fourth in nine days against Jets.

If it had been a movie, it would have been given an “R” rating for violence and strong language.

If it had happened on the street, somebody would have been arrested.

But it was simply business as usual in the NHL between the Kings and the Winnipeg Jets.

In a fight-marred battle Saturday night before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005, the Kings won, 6-3, for their seventh consecutive victory and fourth in nine days against the Jets.

Before it was over:

--One player attacked another as he lay on the ice, bringing his fists down as if he were hammering a stake into the ground.

--A player fired the puck at the opposing team’s bench.

--A roughing penalty was assessed against Wayne Gretzky .

When it was over, there were a total of 52 penalties for 244 minutes and seven game misconducts. The Kings were penalized 22 times for 102 minutes, the Jets had 30 penalties for 142 minutes.

In the first period alone, there were more fists flying than on many boxing nights at the Forum.

The most blatant blows were struck by King defenseman Marty McSorley. After he and Winnipeg’s Doug Evans collided along the boards, Evans, as he went down, slashed McSorley on the arm. With Evans laying on the ice, McSorley pounded away. That drew him a game misconduct.

When Winnipeg’s Bryan Marchment went after McSorley, he was also given a game misconduct for being the third man in on an altercation.

“He (Evans) slashed me good,” McSorley said. “The other night he was running around slashing everyone.

“I knew that they would target our guys, so I figured, before the game got old, I would cut out the garbage. I thought it was a cheap call to give me a game misconduct. The five minutes yes, but not the game misconduct.”

Dave McIlwain (13th goal) and Pat Elynuik (28th) gave the Jets a 2-1 lead in the first period, but after that it was all Kings.

Tony Granato’s 24th goal tied the score after one period and the Kings then moved into a 4-2 lead in the second period on goals by Dave Taylor (19th) and Steve Duchesne (17th).

At the end of the second period, Gretzky and former King Phil Sykes got into a seemingly minor tussle.

It was at this point that Sykes appeared to shoot the puck at the Kings’ bench.

He later said he was exhausted and was merely trying to smack the puck out of play to get a breather.

When Gretzky came down the ice, Sykes went after him, cross-checking the King center and sending him to the ice.

When the subsequent brawl was ended, both Sykes and Gretzky were given roughing penalties.

Through all the fighting, two trends remained unaffected. The Kings continue to move upward and the Jets in the opposite direction.

The victory improved the Kings’ record to 39-20-7 and allowed them to remain on top of the Smythe Division, four points ahead of the Calgary Flames, who also won Saturday.

Winnipeg fell to 23-35-11 and stayed just two points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the struggle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

“It was 20 guys sticking together,” said the Kings’ Jay Miller. “It was a lot of fun. We want to win whether we play rough style or European freestyle. We’re here to play hockey, not go surfing.”

King Notes

Also scoring Saturday were Kings Tomas Sandstrom (36th), Bob Halkidis (first) and Mike Donnelly (fifth and fourth in three games) and the Jets’ Phil Sykes (11th). . . . With the trading deadline three days away, King General Manager Rogie Vachon won’t rule out a deal, although one appears unlikely. “It’s been pretty quiet the last few days,” Vachon said. “I don’t anticipate a big deal. We won’t make a move unless it’s a trade that can really help us. Right now we’re just listening. Last year when we were struggling, we needed to shake things up. Right now we’re pretty happy, but that doesn’t mean a trade isn’t possible.”