One Shot May Have Turned Series in Other Direction

The plan for the men who would be Kings was this:

First, skate circles around the crazy Canucks. Next, zip up to Alberta, where the shiny old Stanley Cup has been sitting and rusting for years without so much as a dab of Tarnex, and get rid of the Edmonton Oilers or Calgary Flames. Then, face off against Bobby Hull’s former team or Brett Hull’s current one. And, finally, win the NHL finals.

There. That was what it would take to bring championship hockey to Los Angeles, America’s winter wonderland.

If ever the time was right and the vine ripe, this was it. For months and months, L.A. played the game as well as anybody in the league. The only time the Kings lost any of the slap off their shot was when Tomas Sandstrom took some time off to rest his aching back.

The minute Operation Desert Sandstrom went back into action, the Kings’ offense started clicking. And Rob Blake and the defense started checking. And the goalie, Kelly Hrudey, started guarding the crease the way a hungry Doberman guards a dish of Alpo. And Wayne Gretzky started playing like that guy Wayne Gretzky always plays like, Wayne Gretzky.

But, as Nevada Las Vegas and the Oakland Athletics and Steffi Graf and others can attest, you don’t just show up for sporting events and say: “OK, here we are. We win. Who do we play next?”

Maybe the Kings believed Vancouver would be no problem. Or maybe they underestimated how much extra team speed a trade supplied to the Canucks. Or maybe these are simply the vagaries of sport, that above-average teams don’t automatically defeat average teams, even though a team mustn’t even necessarily be average to qualify for the come-as-you-are NHL playoffs.

After only two games, players on both sides were aware that the Canucks were beating the Kings to loose pucks, using quickness to make up for what they lacked in slickness and also clutching and grabbing whenever possible, hoping the linesmen wouldn’t notice, doing whatever was necessary to keep the relentless King offense from cutting loose.

So, even though their opening two games were at home, the fabulous Forum boys found themselves capable of doing no better than one defeat and one desperate victory in overtime. That is their lot in life as they skate toward Vancouver tonight for Game 3.

Are the Kings going to be OK?

Probably so. If ever one goal can get a hockey team back on its feet, it should be the one Gretzky golfed over Troy Gamble’s shoulder Saturday night.

Even Agent 99 himself was so happy with it--and remember, he already has scored about 99,000 of these things--that he celebrated afterward by flopping on the Forum ice like a seal. Some of us haven’t seen a flying leap like this since Randy (Macho Man) Savage last went off the top rope toward Hulk Hogan’s throat.

“It wasn’t the prettiest goal, but I’ll take it,” Gretzky said.

Wasn’t the prettiest goal? Wasn’t the prettiest goal? Wayne, Wayne, Wayne. This was more beautiful than Katarina Witt in black lace doing a double axel, babe. What it lacked in style, it more than made up for in determination. The Kings kept coming, kept coming, kept coming until that poor Canuck in the mask finally said: “OK, OK, if you want it that bad, you can have it.”

Blake fed the puck to Sandstrom, who is better than Bernie Nicholls and brought along Tony Granato in the bargain, and don’t you forget it. Sandstrom wristed one left-handed that the goalie took off his chest, whereupon Granato materialized and whipped one that Gamble parried with his right glove.

Along came No. 99, which really isn’t fair, when you think about it, having Wayne Gretzky come along to trail on a play. It’s like you stop Byron Scott and Janes Worthy and then Magic shows up. Gamble recovered, but Gretzky flicked it high into the netting and the celebration began. Wayne’s World! Wayne’s World!

If the Kings drive on from here to win the Cup, consider this goal the Stanley garage-door opener. This one was as big as any Gretzky has gotten for anybody but Edmonton.

There was a game a couple of weeks ago when the Kings were playing Calgary and were about to win by a 1-0 score for the first time since, oh, since Rogie Vachon was too young to shave or something. With seconds left and an open net, Gretzky was on the left wing with some Flame in front of him. Somehow, he shot the puck from a weird angle into the net.

That night, a TV sportscaster showed us “Gretzky putting the game on ice with an easy open-net goal.”

Easy for Wayne is difficult for most. Just as ugly for Wayne is pretty for most. He didn’t think Saturday’s goal was pretty? It wasn’t. It was gorgeous. As goals go, it was a hunk. It was the very thing the Kings needed to put this Stanley Cup plan of theirs into motion and to, oh, you know, break the ice.