Kings Win for Gretzky, Themselves

The sound of silence was the only sound heard in the Kings’ dressing room at the Nassau Coliseum before Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders.

In an effort to inspire the slumping Kings, who had been outscored, 12-4, in losing the first two games of a seven-game, two-week Eastern trip, King Coach Tom Webster showed his team a lithograph of a young Wayne Gretzky playing hockey with his father, Walter.

Truly inspired, the Kings scored a 4-2 victory.

The lithograph, which is titled “A Boy and his Dream,” shows Walter teaching young Wayne how to play hockey on a pond and it dissolves into Gretzky in a King uniform.

With Gretzky missing his fifth consecutive game because he is with his father, who is recuperating from brain surgery after suffering an aneurysm on Oct. 16, the Kings silently vowed to win the game for Gretzky.

“I think everybody in the back of their mind played this one (for Gretzky),” left wing Luc Robitaille said. “If he was trying to pump us, it worked.”

Webster’s motivational tool was effective as the Kings defeated the revamped Islanders before 10,255 fans.

“We were desperate,” said King center Tony Granato, who scored the game-winning goal at 2:06 of the third period and also assisted on rookie defenseman Darryl Sydor’s first NHL goal. “We were embarrassed the last two games. And the way we played all year really hasn’t been acceptable.

“I think everybody realized that if we continued to go like we had the past few games that there were going to be some big changes made. So everybody was playing for a job. Everybody was trying to get that spark back we had last year.”

Gretzky, who hasn’t skated in 10 days since leaving to join his family in Hamilton, Canada, is expected to rejoin the team today for practice and he may play in Monday night’s game at Detroit.

“He’s driving to Detroit and he’s going to join us there for practice,” Webster said. “We will see how he’s feeling and how his conditioning is and how he is mentally before we make a decision on his status.”

The Kings, who began the trip with the NHL’s best penalty-killing unit, gave up a power-play goal when defenseman Tom Kurvers scored on a shot from beneath the right circle off a pass from right wing David Volek at 10:47 of the first period.

But Jay Miller tied it, 1-1, when he intercepted Kurvers’ pass in front of the Islander net and scored an unassisted goal at 3:17 of the second period.

Sydor scored off a pass from Granato at 11:42 of the second period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. Granato was trying to get the puck to Robitaille, but Sydor intercepted the pass and beat goalie Glenn Healy.

After the Islanders tied it, 2-2, when left wing Bill Berg scored at 16:24 of the second period, the Kings took the lead for good when Granato scored his fifth goal of the season off a behind-the-back pass from Robitaille, who had two assists to reach the 500-point milestone.

The Kings, who had been ineffective on defense because of injuries to defensemen Rob Blake (sprained shoulder), Charlie Huddy (groin), Brian Benning (groin) and Jeff Chychrun (wrist surgery), played a tight-checking defense in the third period, limiting the Islanders to seven shots.

“Some of our older, more experienced defensemen are out and it’s our job as young defensemen to contribute as much as we can,” Sydor said. “It’s good to see that they have confidence in our young defensemen.”

Goalie Kelly Hrudey, who made 25 saves, thought the Kings’ defense was more aggressive.

“That game reminded me of how we played last year and how we’re capable of playing,” Hrudey said.

Left wing Mike Donnelly added a goal with 1:11 remaining to give the Kings a two-goal lead and send the fans to the parking lots.

King Notes

The Islanders, who traded center Pat LaFontaine to Buffalo and team captain Brent Sutter to Chicago Friday, had six new players in their lineup Saturday: centers Pierre Turgeon, Adam Creighton and Benoit Hogue, defenseman Uwe Krupp, center/right wing Dave McLlwain and left wing Steve Thomas. Krupp, who was acquired from Buffalo, had one assist. . . . King defenseman Charlie Huddy, who has missed the last six games with a groin injury, will join the team today in Detroit and may play Wednesday in Hartford or Thursday in Boston. . . . Defenseman Brian Benning, who had hoped to return to the lineup after sitting out Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Rangers because of a groin injury, was unable to play Saturday night. . . . The Kings, who failed to score on eight power plays, couldn’t even score when they had a two-man advantage for 1:36 of the first period.