Nothing Helps Kings : Hockey: If Gretzky’s remarks were meant to inspire, it doesn’t show in 2-1 loss to Islanders.

Kings owner Bruce McNall speculated Tuesday that Wayne Gretzky’s talk of possible retirement was geared to fire up his teammates.

Anybody got an alternate plan?

It was the Kings who retired early Tuesday night at the Forum, losing, 2-1, to the New York Islanders before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005.

The Kings scored in the first period, then weren’t heard from again. Pierre Turgeon’s third-period goal, his 25th of the season, was the difference as New York dropped the Kings below .500 again at 20-21-11. The Islanders improved to 20-24-7.

Gretzky had said Monday he would consider retirement after next season if his game didn’t improve.

Gretzky didn’t back down from his statement Tuesday.

“I don’t feel like going home every night feeling like I do now,” he said after the game. “We’ll see what the playoffs hold for us, we’ll see about next year and we’ll go from there.”

But McNall threw cold water on any thought of early retirement, saying that Gretzky was emotionally down, but far from ready to have his uniform join Magic Johnson’s on the Forum wall.

“He’s told me consistently, ‘Hey, I’m playing. I love it,’ ” McNall said of Gretzky. “I think he’s fully intending nothing but continuing to play for a long time to come.”

McNall feels that what reporters heard Monday when Gretzky talked of possibly reassessing his future was the voice of frustration, frustration over the illness of his father, frustration over his back injury, frustration over probably finishing with fewer than 40 goals and 100 assists and frustration over a .500 season for the Kings.

“There is a lot of pressure on him,” McNall said, “from me, from the coaches, from his teammates and from the public. He translates that to himself.

“I think that what happens is everybody looks at him and thinks, ‘Gee, only 20 goals . . .’ And he says, ‘Well, if I’m not living up to everybody’s expectations, then I’ll do something else.’ But the main expectations are his own expectations.

“He is always his own hardest critic. If his teammates are not playing well, he’s the first guy to say, ‘It’s my fault.’ Jari Kurri didn’t start out with a great year. He didn’t start out like a house afire. We’re not kidding anybody. But (Wayne) didn’t sit there and say, ‘My teammates are a problem.’ He said, ‘Maybe they’re not playing well because I’m not playing well.’ ”

McNall was not shocked that Gretzky’s frustrations finally surfaced.

“I went through a little of what happened to his dad (a brain aneurysm) with him,” McNall said. “I went through the heartache of his back . . . and the fact that he’s playing at all is remarkable. He doesn’t need to for the money. He doesn’t need to for anything else. He’s playing for pride and the desire to win. Maybe he shouldn’t always do that.”

Trying to live up to a name like The Great One can be too much for even a Gretzky, McNall said.

“He’s probably going to end up winning the scoring race,” the Kings’ owner said of his superstar center, “and it’s a little bit of a sub-par year. After awhile, he says, ‘What do you want from me?’ Mark Messier is God’s gift to New York City and they (he and Gretzky) have the same number of points. Brett Hull has a two-game scoreless streak and you don’t have headlines in St. Louis that he’s finished.

“I think when the team gets on a streak and things start going more his way, he’ll be more optimistic.”

McNall is confident Gretzky’s comments are “a momentary thing” to “rev up himself and rev up his teammates.”

Gretzky revved them up Tuesday by setting up the Kings’ first-period goal with a trademark pass. It came on a power play, but, perhaps more significant, it came from behind the net, a place formally known as Gretzky’s “office.”

That office has been closed for much of the season by opposing defenses. But Gretzky was back in business Tuesday, feeding Luc Robitaille on the right side. Robitaille banged the puck off the left post and just over the goal line.

At first, the goal was disallowed, but a look at the replay showed the puck had just skipped across the line for Robitaille’s 24th goal.

But David Volek’s 11th goal at 8:21 of the second period tied the score.

For Kings’ goalie Kelly Hrudey, who had a shutout against the Chicago Blackhawks in his last outing, it was the first goal allowed in 93 minutes and 32 seconds.

Another would soon follow.

Asked about Gretzky afterward, Robitaille told reporters: “I think he’ll be here a long time. If we regroup and win a championship, it’ll be different.”

King Notes

Linesman Brad Lazarowich was knocked out of action in the first period when New York’s Hubie McDonough inadvertently hit the official in the left eye with his stick. With swelling around the eye, Lazarowich did not return, going back instead to his hotel.