Slow-Starting Kings Finish Fast Again, 4-4 : Hockey: After falling behind, 3-0, they rally to salvage a tie with the Oilers.

Once again, the Kings brought out their sticks in the third period and scored a clutch goal, enabling them to tie the Edmonton Oilers, 4-4, Saturday night at the Forum.

Now if they would simply stop bringing out their shovels in the first period, their lives would be a lot easier.

But of late, the Kings don’t seem comfortable on the ice until they have dug themselves a hole.

Saturday night, before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005, the Kings staked Edmonton to a 3-0 lead in the first period. It was the seventh consecutive game for the Kings and eighth in the last nine in which the opposition has scored first.

The Oilers nearly hung on to win, but King rookie defenseman Peter Ahola, taking a pass from Wayne Gretzky, scored his second goal of the season with 54 seconds to play in regulation.

Each club managed only one futile shot in the overtime.

“The only good thing is the way we battled back,” said Cap Raeder, who, along with fellow assistant coach Rick Wilson, ran the club Saturday night. Coach Tom Webster has missed two games because of flu.

“It seems like we’re always playing catch-up,” forward Tony Granato said. “Even when we were winning, we gave up a couple of goals early and then tried to catch up. We can’t do that all year.”

The Kings are 8-4-4, Edmonton 6-9-3.

Joe Murphy opened the scoring with his seventh goal 3:44 into the game. The goal came on a power play, Murphy’s third in that situation this season.

Edmonton also scored its second goal on a power play, Scott Mellanby getting his sixth goal of the season at 7:28.

Craig Simpson’s fifth goal at 10:50 made it 3-0 lead.

Mike Donnelly began the Kings’ comeback with his sixth goal at 12:56. It was unassisted, but actually Edmonton’s Esa Tikkanen deserved one. Donnelly’s shot left the puck bouncing at the goal line. Tikkanen, attempting to dig it out, inadvertently pushed it across.

Luc Robitaille pulled the Kings to within 3-2 at 18:44 with his 11th goal and sixth on a power play. It was also the 26th point for Robitaille, who started the game as the league’s leading scorer.

Bob Kudelski got the Kings even at 17:17 of the second period with his seventh goal.

Vincent Damphousse gave the Oilers a 4-3 lead with his fourth goal at 1:57 of the final period.

On the tying goal, Gretzky and Tikkanen, who have been locking sticks since Gretzky’s arrival in Los Angeles, found themselves battling for the puck in the left corner in the Oiler zone. Gretzky outfought his nemesis long enough to shove the puck into the slot.

Both Ahola and Granato were there, Ahola nearly knocking Granato over in his haste to get to the puck.

“I’m basically here to play a defensive role,” said Ahola, a 23-year-old native of Finland, “but sometimes (a scoring opportunity) happens.

“This is the biggest goal of my life . . . so far.”

King Notes

Forward Tony Granato and defenseman Marty McSorley have agreed to new contracts. Granato, who filed for arbitration but had not yet received a hearing, will be paid $1.95 million over three seasons. He will get $550,000 this season and $700,000 each of the next two years. General Manager Rogie Vachon renegotiated with McSorley, who had a year remaining on his contract. McSorley will receive $550,000 this season and $650,000 next season. He made $230,000 last season. . . . “The salaries are really high,” Vachon said. “What can you do? You’ve got to keep up with the market. . . . Only two Kings--defensemen Brian Benning and Jeff Chychrun--remain unsigned. . . . Suffering from flu, Coach Tom Webster missed his second game. . . . Defenseman Charlie Huddy sat out with a groin pull, an injury that has plagued him on and off all season. Overall, he has missed eight games due to the injury. . . . The Kings hit the road for two games, Monday afternoon in Winnipeg and Tuesday night in Vancouver.