Kings Get Boxed Out by Penalties

When he was moved to first-line wing last week, former defenseman Marty McSorley was asked if the switch would cut down his time in the penalty box, a frequent resting spot for him.

“There’s always a time and a place for that,” McSorley said.

Sunday, McSorley picked the wrong time and the wrong place.

So did teammate Tony Granato.

With the Kings trailing the Calgary Flames by a goal in the Olympic Saddledome heading into the final period, McSorley and Granato took costly penalties that enabled the Flames to blow the game open with three goals and coast to a 6-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 20,133.

The off-ice news Sunday wasn’t any better. The Kings learned that wing Tomas Sandstrom will be sidelined for at least three weeks because of a dislocated right shoulder.

Sandstrom was hurt Saturday night when he was checked into the boards by the Edmonton Oilers’ Luke Richardson.

“It’s unbelievable,” said a dismayed Sandstrom, who had only been on the ice for a game and a half when he was injured after sitting out five games because of a suspension.

“Every night it seems to be something,” teammate Luc Robitaille said.

Sunday night, it was the costly penalties and a powerless King power-play unit, which failed on all eight attempts.

The loss dropped the Kings into fifth place in the Smythe Division, but they remain only a single point out of third. Edmonton, a loser Sunday, remains in third with 36 points.

Both the Kings (14-15-7) and the Flames (15-17-5) have 35 points, but Calgary is technically in fourth because it has one more victory.

After winning two in a row for the first time in more than a month, the Kings returned to the form that produced a 1-7-2 slump before their brief streak.

Calgary, on the other hand, has now won two in a row for the first time since their ninth and 10th games, in late October.

King goals by Robitaille (17th) and Bob Kudelski (14th) Sunday had been matched by Calgary goals from Frank Musil (second) and Robert Reichel (12th), leaving the score tied late in the second period.

The Flames took a lead they would not relinquish when the puck was knocked off Larry Robinson’s stick by Gary Roberts in front of the King goal.

That left rookie David Goverde, getting only his second start in goal for the Kings, facing a two-on-none rush. Joe Nieuwendyk took a pass from Roberts and flipped the puck past Goverde for his seventh goal to give Calgary a 3-2 lead at 16:16 of the period.

It got worse for Goverde. A lot worse.

After McSorley was called for interference early in the third period, Reichel converted on a power play, scoring his second goal of the game.

Slightly less than a minute later, Granato was given a match penalty for jamming his stick into Musil’s jaw.

“I got a penalty,” Granato said. “That’s the way it goes. He (referee Bill McCreary) called it. That’s why he’s out there. I just took a shower and I’m getting out of town.”

While Granato sat in the penalty box, the Flames’ Trent Yawney (first goal) and Al MacInnis (10th) scored during the five-minute advantage to put the game out of reach.

After MacInnis’ goal, the 40-year-old Robinson, a veteran of two decades in the NHL, skated over to the 21-year-old Goverde and put an arm around the goalie.

“He told me not to worry,” Goverde said, “to keep on going and to keep my head up. He’s been playing 20 years. He knows about the ups and downs.”

And about tender feelings.

“He’s a young kid,” Robinson said of Goverde.

“I certainly didn’t want him feeling bad, thinking he was the reason we lost.”

In that case, Robinson could have shown him the real reason by simply pointing to the penaltybox.

King Notes

With David Goverde starting in goal, the status of backup Daniel Berthiaume is in question. A rumor out of Toronto during the weekend had Berthiaume and Tomas Sandstrom going to the Maple Leafs for goalie Grant Fuhr. But that was before Sandstrom was injured. . . . Wayne Gretzky failed to score, ending a 15-game point-scoring streak.