Robitaille Didn’t Pass This Time : Kings: Winger was told to shoot more after first-round series, and he was not to be denied against the Oilers.

It was fitting that Luc Robitaille scored the tying and winning goals Thursday night in the Kings’ 4-3 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the opening game of their Smythe Division final series.

After the sixth game of the Kings’ first-round series against the Vancouver Canucks, Robitaille was gently reprimanded for not shooting enough.

“It’s funny how this happens,” Coach Tom Webster said. “I was yelling at Robitaille to shoot the puck for the last little while, especially at Vancouver (Sunday night), when he had a chance in the slot and he passed it off. Tonight, I think he remembered those words quite clearly.

“His ears were ringing.”

So were the ears of the Oilers when Robitaille, after taking a drop pass from Wayne Gretzky at the left point, fired a shot over defenseman Mark Lamb and past goaltender Bill Ranford 2:13 into overtime.

The goal gave the Kings their first victory in a second-round playoff series since 1982 and their first at the Forum since 1977.

“I don’t remember who hit (the puck), but it went right to Gretz, and when it got to Gretz, I just went behind him,” Robitaille said. “All I remember is that No. 7 (Lamb), I think, was in front of me. He went down and I just made sure I wasn’t going to hit him. I shot as hard as I could.”

Robitaille also scored at 12:07 of the third period, pulling the Kings even after they had squandered a 2-0 lead by giving up three goals, the last two in the first six minutes of the third period.

From the slot, he redirected a pass by Steve Duchesne.

“I’ve been standing in front of the net a little bit more lately and that’s all I did,” Robitaille said. “Steve Duchesne saw me all alone there and he put it right on my stick. I just tipped it and it went in.”

Slowly.

Ranford deflected it, but it trickled between his legs.

“It seemed like it took an hour to go in,” said Robitaille, who seemed determined to end the overtime much more quickly.

Remembering well the words of Webster and Gretzky, who also chided him about his reluctance to shoot, he came out firing at the start of the extra period, slapping a shot that Ranford kicked away.

“The last game against Vancouver, when it was 1-1, we had a three-on-one and I kind of waited to shoot,” he said. “The first one who came up to me after that game was Gretz. He said, ‘Any time you’ve got a two-on-one or (similar manpower advantage), shoot.’

“So, tonight, when I got that two-on-one, I said, ‘I’m not looking. I’m just going to shoot.’ ”

He chased down the rebound in the right corner, fired another shot wide of the net and kept his intensity until he got another chance. He didn’t miss.

“Nobody could have stopped that last shot,” Webster said.