Kings Hold Off North Stars but Can’t Put Away Flames

The Kings have a team-record 26 victories at home, a club-record 46 in all. They have 102 points with one game left.

And still nothing has been decided.

The Kings beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-5, Thursday night before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005, but the Calgary Flames stayed alive in the race for the Smythe Division title with a tie against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Flames have left themselves no room for error. No losses, no ties. But if they can beat the Oilers tonight and the Kings Sunday in the regular-season finale for both clubs, they will win the divisional title despite finishing with the same point total as the Kings. The tiebreaker would be total victories and the Flames, with two more, would edge the Kings.

In improving to 46-23-10, the Kings, playing under assistant coaches Rick Wilson and Cap Raeder, had to hang on after giving up four goals in the last period.

Mike Modano (27th) and Brian Glynn (eighth) scored 39 seconds apart with just under five minutes to play.

Bob Kudelski’s 23rd goal at 18:48, into an empty net after Minnesota pulled its goalie with 2:05 to play, clinched the victory.

Modano cut the final margin to 6-5 with his second goal of the game with 34 seconds left.

The North Stars dropped to 26-38-14.

“Everybody wants the head coach there,” Wilson said when it was over. “But the players are familiar with Cap and I on the bench and they responded real well.”

No argument from Wayne Gretzky.

“We still play the same system,” he said. “The three coaches work very well together and they all have a say so this is not too big a distraction.”

Gretzky picked up where he left off Tuesday night. After having gone nine games without a goal, Gretzky scored both King goals Tuesday and he scored the opening one Thursday 10:31 into the first period.

Taking a pass from Larry Robinson, Gretzky skated up the left side, but found himself face to face with defenseman Rob Zettler. Zettler took the puck away from Gretzky, but the King center regained control just as quickly and went past Zettler, only to run into goalie Jon Casey crouched to the left of the goal.

Gretzky went over him, pushing the puck in as he dived over Casey’s shoulder.

It sometimes seems as if every Gretzky goal is a milestone, and this one was no exception.

That was his 41st of the season, one more than he had last year, and it was also the 718th of his career, moving him past Phil Esposito into sole possession of third place on the all-time list.

Minnesota tied the game at 14:43 of the period after Dave Gagner’s pass got past Tony Granato to the open Brian Propp. Propp put the puck past King goalie Kelly Hrudey for his 25th goal.

The Kings moved back in front in the second period on Steve Kasper’s ninth goal and Luc Robitaille’s 44th.

Minnesota moved closer in the third period when Gagner scored his team-high 40th goal on a power play.

But the Kings responded with Tomas Sandstrom’s team-high 45th goal and Granato’s 30th.

Hrudey isn’t placing a lot of emphasis on winning the division title.

“It’s only the regular season,” he said. “It’s no big deal. There’s still a long road ahead.”

He isn’t even planning on watching tonight’s Calgary-Edmonton game.

“But,” he said “I’ll be there Sunday.”

If nothing else, of that much you can be sure.

King Notes

If the Kings had decided to appeal Coach Tom Webster’s suspension, there are two courses they could have followed. One would have been to call an emergency meeting of the league’s Board of Governors in five days. The Kings would have had to bear the expense of getting the board together, at an approximate cost of $75,000. And if the board had not rescinded the suspension, Webster would have been faced with missing four playoff games. The other option was to wait until the next scheduled board meeting in June. But, in the meantime, Webster would have had to serve the suspension anyway. . . . Webster is allowed to coach the team in practice but is forbidden from having any contact with his players beginning with the moment they arrive at the arena for the game. Nor can he communicate with the bench by headset. . . . The Kings are obligated to subtract the $5,000 fine from Webster’s paycheck. If a team pays a fine for a player or coach, the club is subject to a $100,000 fine.

The Kings finished the regular season with 25 consecutive sellouts and 34 in 40 dates. . . . There have been rumors circulating coast to coast through the card-collecting community that the Honus Wagner baseball card bought by Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky last week turned out to be damaged goods, already returned by McNall. According to the story, the card had been shaved 1/32nd of an inch on the sides to mask the fact it was not in mint condition. Not true, McNall said. He admitted he had heard the same rumors before buying the card, had it checked out and was satisfied with its authenticity. McNall and Gretzky paid $451,000 for the card, a record for a piece of sports memorabilia.

Season player awards were handed out before the game. In voting by the media, Gretzky was named winner of the Bill Libby Memorial Award as team MVP, goalie Daniel Berthiaume was selected best newcomer, Rob Blake outstanding defenseman and Steve Kasper winner of the defensive player award. The players picked Dave Taylor unsung hero and Larry Robinson most inspirational. The fans named Marty McSorley most popular. The Kings also singled out Taylor for his community service.