Kings Escape Maple Leafs With a Tie

King goalie Kelly Hrudey was flat on his back in the crease.

The puck, which had already glanced off his left leg on a shot by Dave Ellett, was rolling, inexorably, seemingly in slow motion, toward the net with no one to stop it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs appeared to have upset the Kings Tuesday night 14 seconds into overtime.

Not quite.

The Maple Leafs missed by the width of the goal post, the loose puck kissing softly off the left post and stopping just short of victory.

Instead, the Kings and Maple Leafs wound up in a 4-4 tie before a sellout crowd of 16,005 in the Forum.

“It was close,” Hrudey said, “but to me, it’s not close until it rolls to the goalline.”

So what did it feel like, lying there with the puck rolling behind him toward possible defeat for the Kings?

“It was a little bit of a panic situation,” Hrudey conceded. “But that’s what makes the game great, the different emotions.”

Both Hrudey and Toronto goalie Grant Fuhr forged the tie with brilliant saves late in regulation time and in the overtime.

The Kings (11-7-6) picked up a point on the Smythe Division-leading Vancouver Canucks and now trail them by five. Toronto is 6-15-4.

Brian Bradley gave the Maple Leafs the early lead with his fourth goal 7:06 into the game.

But Toronto didn’t hold the lead for long. Only 49 seconds, as a matter of fact. Tomas Sandstrom then tied the score by putting in his seventh goal.

Wayne Gretzky scored his 10th goal and fifth in three games on a power play at 1:41 of the second period to move the Kings back in front.

Then came a play that appeared to give the Kings command of the game. Toronto’s Glenn Anderson hit King defenseman Larry Robinson in the left eye with his stick. Robinson left for treatment that included three stitches around the upper corner of the eye. Anderson left with a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

The Kings scored once on the power play, Tony Granato getting his ninth goal at 8:39. But the Kings got only one other shot over the length of the penalty.

Meantime, at the other end of the ice, former King Mike Krushelnyski got a short-handed goal at 9:31, his first goal of the season in his 19th game.

And only 11 seconds after the power play had expired, the Maple Leafs struck again, Craig Berube getting his fourth goal at 11:39 to tie the score.

Both sides scored power-play goals in the final period, Daniel Marois (second goal) for Toronto at 3:18, Luc Robitaille (14th) at 13:21 to keep the game even.

King Notes

Wing Tomas Sandstrom, hit in the knee by a shot by Brian Benning in the second period, tried to skate in the final period, couldn’t, and left with swelling in the knee area.

Coach Tom Webster received a hearing with Brian O’Neill, league vice-president, Tuesday on his stick-throwing outburst Nov. 16. When King defenseman Larry Robinson and the Detroit Red Wings’ Vladimir Konstantinov clashed that night, referee Kerry Fraser called crosschecking penalties on both of them. But only Robinson’s penalty was initially announced. Infuriated at what he saw as one-sided treatment, Webster hurled a stick from the bench, grazing one of Fraser’s skates. “We gave Tommy’s side,” said King General Manager Rogie Vachon, who sat in on the hearing. “There was confusion on the play. They didn’t put up the penalty right away. There were a series of events that led up to (the stick-throwing), and we want them to take that into consideration.”

King defenseman Marty McSorley hoped to be out of the hospital today, but he will remain there a few more days because of the throat infection that has caused him to sit out two games. Unable to swallow, McSorley continues to be fed intravenously. . . . Jeff Chychrun’s comeback has been put on hold. The King defenseman, sidelined all season because of wrist surgery, was sent down to the Kings’ Phoenix Roadrunner farm club to get in shape. But after two games with Phoenix, he suffered a groin pull in practice and is sidelined indefinitely. . . . Wing Ilkka Sinisalo was recalled from Phoenix and in the lineup Tuesday.

King center Randy Gilhen, a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, expressed his sadness at the death of former Pittsburgh Coach Bob Johnson from brain cancer. “We will not just miss him as a hockey coach, but as a great and lively person,” Gilhen said. “Six months ago (today), we won the Stanley Cup. Now he’s gone. It’s hard to take.”