Gretzky Sees Clearly Now : Kings: After being knocked out of Game 3, he will line up tonight against Edmonton in Game 4.

When he was 10, Wayne Gretzky got hit in the mouth with a hockey stick, knocking out three front teeth.

“Now,” his father, Walter, told him, “you’re a hockey player.”

Gretzky has become the greatest hockey player ever, but he never again had such a bloody accident on the ice.

Until Monday.

Inadvertently hit by a puck off the stick of teammate Steve Duchesne, Gretzky suffered a deep cut on the left ear which required about 25 stitches.

But by Tuesday, Gretzky had recovered sufficiently to announce he will be in the lineup tonight when the Kings return to Northlands Coliseum to face the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Smythe Division finals. Edmonton leads the series, 2-1.

He was hurt in the first period of Game 3 Monday, shortly after being caught from behind on a breakaway by Esa Tikkanen and Petr Klima.

“Klima lifted my stick,” Gretzky said. “I knew I was going to get hit, so I turned my head.”

Tikkanen, Gretzky’s Oiler nemesis, slammed into Gretzky, whose head, turned at an odd angle, banged against the boards.

Gretzky skated off the ice.

“I was a little foggy,” he said.

Coach Tom Webster told him to walk down the tunnel to clear his head.

Gretzky insisted he was fine, but when he returned to the ice, his reaction time may have been a little off.

He didn’t realize his team had the puck.

“I thought we had turned it over,” Gretzky said. “I started to skate back.”

As he did so, Duchesne took a shot at the Edmonton net.

“I saw it at the last second,” Gretzky said.

Then he saw stars. His helmet off, blood coming down the left side of his face, Gretzky came off the ice hunched over, as though shot.

“I knew I was cut,” he said, “but I knew I still had my ear.”

By the time Gretzky was stitched up and it had been determined there was no serious ear damage, the second period was over.

But there was no thought of Gretzky returning to a game the Kings would lose in double overtime. He had a horrible headache and a ringing in his ears.

By Tuesday, the headache was gone.

“I still get a throbbing in my ear when I bend over and the blood rushes to the ear,” Gretzky said. “When I move too quickly, it feels sore.”

So sore that the Kings are planning on a quick redesign of his helmet to protect the damaged ear.

Gretzky also expects the ear to be numbed with medication before the game to prevent further pain.

By Tuesday, Gretzky was joking about his injury.

“That’s the first blocked shot I’ve had in 13 years,” he said. “But as long as I can hear, I don’t care what it (the ear) looks like.”

He even teased Duchesne about the shot.

“I told him it was a good thing it was him,” Gretzky said, “because if it had been anybody else, I would have needed 40 stitches.”

Gretzky may not be the only returning King center tonight. Steve Kasper, who has sat out two games because of a concussion, is listed as “probable.”

Tomas Sandstrom, out with a broken leg, won’t be back this series. But Webster, after trying various combinations Monday night, was most pleased with Ilkka Sinisalo at Sandstrom’s left wing spot on Gretzky’s line.

“He did an outstanding job,” said Webster of the former Minnesota North Star. “He has playoff experience, he plays with and without the puck and he plays smart hockey.

“He’s been working high as the first forward back, allowing us to protect ourselves while letting Wayne and Tony (Granato) be more aggressive.”

Mike Donnelly, who suffered a concussion in Game 2, played Monday, although still experiencing headaches.

With all three games of the series going into overtime, the last two into double overtime, the key to such a tight matchup could prove to be the special teams.

So far, there hasn’t been much power in the Oilers’ power play.

They entered Game 3 having failed in all nine opportunities and scored on only one of seven tries Monday to leave them one for 16.

“The key has been our pressure,” Webster said. “To beat us, they are going to have to make a perfect pass.”

Even on its only successful power play, Edmonton can’t boast of pinpoint passing.

Or any passing, for that matter.

Tikkanen scored by taking the puck in the Oiler zone and going the length of the ice, weaving his way through Brad Jones, Tim Watters and Marty McSorley to score.

The Kings were two for four on power plays Monday, giving them four goals in 15 tries in this series.

Edmonton has played five consecutive overtime games to tie a postseason NHL record. The Kings have also played in five overtime games in the playoffs, having gone more than three periods twice in the opening series against the Vancouver Canucks.

In the last two games, a span of 48 hours, the Kings and Oilers played a total of 165 minutes and 36 seconds, the equivalent of nearly three full games.

But, said Gretzky, don’t look for any signs of fatigue tonight.

“Those guys (the Oilers) can play forever,” he said. “But so can we.”

In the last week, it seems they already have.