McNall Considers a Change at Top : Hockey: King owner might step down as club president if team doesn’t improve. L.A. defeats Jets, 2-1, to end six-game winless streak.

Bruce McNall, disappointed, frustrated and confused over the Kings’ recent slump, is considering stepping down as team president if the slide continues.

Even after the Kings ended a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) Thursday night with a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets, McNall’s somewhat drastic plan remained a viable option. But McNall stressed that he has no intention of selling the club.

“I can change coaches,” he said, “I can change the general manager or change the personnel, but I eventually have to ask what I have done wrong. After a while, I have to question my style of management.

“An organization like the Edmonton Oilers won five Stanley Cups through a style of management that involved intimidation and fear. That’s not my personality. I can’t be that way. But I have to question if my management style is proper for hockey. I owe that to the players, to the fans and to the city.”

McNall, making a rare appearance at a team practice, told his players that he might install a new, tougher, no-nonsense president at some point in this season if things don’t turn around. Before Thursday’s victory had brought the Kings back to .500 at 12-12-6, they had sunk into a fourth-place tie in the Smythe Division.

“I would step aside,” he said, “and put someone else in as president . . . someone between myself and Rogie (Vachon, general manager), who could do the things I’m not capable of doing if that is necessary. I hope and pray it is not because I get great enjoyment from being with the players.”

The Kings turned to the weapons they had used so effectively last season--defense and great goaltending--to win Thursday before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

Wayne Gretzky’s 12th goal in the final period, scored on a rebound off a shot by Tony Granato, was the difference.

That and Kelly Hrudey in the net and team defense played aggressively by all five men on the ice. Winnipeg, after going 8-0-3 over its previous 11, dropped to 15-9-7, falling out of a first-place tie in the Smythe Division with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Kings were outshot, 27-18, but still won for the first time since Nov. 23.

Talk about getting the most out of the least.

The Kings got a season-low two shots in the first period, but still emerged with the lead.

Eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds elapsed before the Kings could get their first shot, but it wound up in the net. Taking a pass from Marty McSorley in the left circle, Granato scored his 15th goal, putting the puck past goalie Stephane Beauregard.

There may not have been a lot of shots, but there was plenty of pressure on Beauregard. Normally Bob Essensa is in the net when the Kings are across the ice. He is 5-2-3 against them lifetime with a 2.74 goals-against average.

Essensa has been playing like that against a lot of opponents this season, making him a key factor in the Jets’ fast start. Essensa is 11-4-4 with a 2.59 goals-against average.

But Essensa was not available Thursday, out of action because of a pulled hamstring.

Beauregard was equal to the challenge for much of the night, holding the Kings until his teammates could even the game.

That came at the 8:10 mark of the final period, Thomas Steen backhanding in his fourth goal of the season from the slot on a power play.

King Notes

King General Manager Rogie Vachon caught an afternoon flight to Montreal after learning that his 77-year-old mother, Lucia, had suffered a massive heart attack earlier in the day in Rouyn, about 100 miles from Montreal. . . . Defenseman Rob Blake, who has missed five games because of a sprained knee ligament, is expected back Saturday. . . . Goalie Daniel Berthiaume, struck on the forehead in a pregame warmup last Thursday, has resumed skating in practice. . . . David Goverde, called up as Berthiaume’s replacement last week, has been returned to the Kings’ Phoenix Roadrunners farm team.