Entire NHL Chasing Kings After Hrudey Repeats, 6-0 - Hockey: L.A. now leads league with 91 points. Goalie has gone nearly 137 minutes without being scored upon.

The Calgary Flames aren’t the only ones chasing the Kings. Now everybody is.

On a Tuesday night when Wayne Gretzky made yet another entry in the NHL record book and Kelly Hrudey made it through his second consecutive game without being scored upon, the Kings made some history of their own with a 6-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers at the Forum before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

The victory gave the Kings (41-21-9) 91 points, pushing them one point past both the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues into the league’s No. 1 position. It is the first time in their 24-year history that the Kings have had the NHL’s best record this late in the season.

“This is something we’ve worked for since Day 1,” Gretzky said. “It’s because of the way we’ve played defensive hockey.”

The Kings, Smythe Division leaders, also guaranteed themselves a finish no worse than second, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Gretzky had three assists, extending his assist streak to 17 games, the third time he has reached that mark.

Paul Coffey, Gretzky’s former teammate at Edmonton, shares the record.

This is the sixth time a King goalie has recorded back-to-back shutouts.

In his last outing, Hrudey stopped the Quebec Nordiques, 3-0, on Saturday. The last time he was scored upon was at 3:16 of the final period against the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday. Hrudey has gone 136 minutes 44 seconds without surrendering a goal; Tuesday night, he made 26 saves.

But Hrudey insisted shutouts don’t mean a thing to him. Not even two in a row.

“Two wins do,” he said. “Shutouts are fun and they’re nice, but what it says is how well everybody played, not just me.

“This team is committed and focused now. More focused than I’ve ever seen.”

Gretzky extended his streak on a goal that didn’t go exactly the way he planned it.

Taking the puck off the end boards in the first period, Gretzky pushed it through the crease to Tomas Sandstrom, perched by the left post.

Sandstrom flubbed it, however, the puck winding up behind him on the stick of teammate Steve Duchesne.

Duchesne hit it perfectly, bouncing the puck off the crossbar and behind goalie Ron Hextall.

No complaints from Gretzky.

The three assists give Gretzky 108 and 146 points, both league-leading totals.

In the 17 games of the streak, Gretzky has 35 assists along with five goals.

Duchesne scored two goals (18th and 19th) as did Marty McSorley (fifth and sixth). The othergoals were scored by Dave Taylor (21st) and Luc Robitaille (39 to tie Sandstrom for the teamlead).

The loss dropped Philadelphia to 31-31-9.

But despite all their efforts, the Kings couldn’t shake the Flames, who defeated the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday to remain two points back.

King Notes

The last time the Kings had back-to-back shutouts was in 1977, when current General Manager Rogie Vachon was in the net. Vachon also was goalie the last time the Flyers were shut out in the Forum. That was Oct. 20, 1973, the Kings winning, 3-0. . . . King defenseman Marty McSorley could have begun serving his three-game suspension immediately, but the Kings have decided to wait a week, as permitted under league rules. McSorley was suspended for punching the Winnipeg Jets’ Doug Evans twice in the face. “We have three tough games this week,” Vachon said. “Philadelphia is tough, Chicago is tough and we play Calgary there. If we were to lose those three games, we’d be out of first. So we decided to wait and take our chances.” McSorley will miss home games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Flames and a road game against the Edmonton Oilers.

King playoff tickets for the first two rounds will go on sale Saturday at the Forum and other ticket outlets. The windows open at 9 a.m. with a limit of four tickets per person per game. Priority numbers will be distributed at the Forum at 8 a.m. Regardless of whether the Kings finish first or second, they will open the playoffs Thursday, April 4, at the Forum. Round 2, the division finals, will start Thursday, April 18. . . . Bob Kudelski was sidelined because of a bruised ankle.