Kings Get a Win Like No Other : Hockey: Sandstrom’s goal in overtime gives them team-record 44th victory and three-point margin over Calgary. Gretzky keeps assist streak alive.

Forty-four victories.

No other King team has won so many. Not in the years of the Triple Crown Line. Not in the days when Rogie Vachon guarded the net. Never in 24 seasons in the NHL.

But this King club proved again Sunday night that it is like none of its predecessors, setting a team record for victories by beating the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3, in overtime, to inch closer to what would be its first Smythe Division title.

Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Kings have a three-point lead over the Calgary Flames. The Kings have three games left, Calgary four.

When Tomas Sandstrom scored the game-winning goal with a minute and a half to play in the overtime Sunday, the sellout crowd of 17,503 watched a familiar sight, Wayne Gretzky dancing from one end of Northlands Coliseum to the other, stick held high in victory.

It was in this city that he won four Stanley Cups. It was in this building that he broke Gordie Howe’s NHL record for points.

But now Gretzky was celebrating what he hopes is the dawn of a new era.

“You have to understand,” he told reporters afterward, many of whom had watched him throughout his career as an Oiler, “the Kings have never been in anything like this before. Calgary and Edmonton have won so many times. You have to build on that tradition and you start by finishing first in the division.”

For 63 minutes and 30 seconds, Gretzky had little to dance about. He failed to score a goal for the ninth consecutive game, tying the longest such drought in his career. He has scored just one goal in his past 15 games.

And even his league-record assist streak seemed over at 22 games.

But never count out a man performing in a building that has a statue of him in front of it.

The game-deciding play was set up when Ken Linseman was whistled for boarding Dave Taylor 1:46 into the overtime.

The Kings had been shut out on four power plays to that point.

It appeared they had lost another opportunity 35 seconds later when Luc Robitaille was called for holding Kelly Buchberger.

But figuring he was already heading for the penalty box, Robitaille added a couple of whacks with his stick at Esa Tikkanen.

Unfortunately for the Oilers, all referee Terry Gregson saw was the retaliation by Tikkanen.

Both Robitaille and Tikkanen were sent to the penalty box, preserving the Kings’ power play.

A little over a minute later, Gretzky got the puck on a two-on-one rush, Sandstrom to his right as the pair skated toward Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr.

Fuhr didn’t play seven years with Gretzky without learning one thing.

“You can’t start cheating on him,” Fuhr said, “He’s too smart a guy. He’ll blow it right past you.”

So Fuhr stayed planted on the left side. And Gretzky slipped the puck to the right.

“It wasn’t a hard decision,” Gretzky said. “Maybe I put it too far in front.”

Sandstrom wasn’t complaining.

“It was a perfect pass,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure I got it on the net.”

As Sandstrom fired, Fuhr came across the goalmouth. He hurled his body at the flying puck, but it bounced off his shoulder into the net for Sandstrom’s team-leading 44th goal to drop the Oilers to 35-36-5.

Sandstrom had opened the scoring with his 43rd. The other King goals were scored by Todd Elik (20th) and Brian Benning (seventh).

Scoring for Edmonton were Anatoli Semenov (14th and 15th) and Norm MacIver (first).

Elik joins Gretzky, Robitaille, Sandstrom, Taylor, Tony Granato, Steve Duchesne and Bob Kudelski as 20-goal scorers, giving the Kings eight players in that category.

That’s another team first in a season of firsts.

King Notes

It was announced Friday that King owner Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky had spent $451,000 to purchase a Honus Wagner baseball card, circa 1910. Sunday, McNall revealed that earlier that day, at the same auction, the pair had spent $90,000 to buy the rest of the set of those 1910 cards, 520 in all. . . . Todd Elik’s goal was actually flipped into the net inadvertently by Edmonton’s Steve Smith, reaching over Dave Taylor. . . . Bob Kudelski (bruised ankle), Jay Miller (bruised shoulder) and Marty McSorley (suspension for fighting) sat out the game.