Robitaille Scores Four as Kings Tie

Talk about making nothing out of something.

The Kings got a career-high four goals from Luc Robitaille Thursday night at the Forum.

They got their first successful penalty shot in two years.

They were facing a team that began the game with the fewest goals in the Wales Conference and was mired in a 12-game winless streak.

Sweet victory for the Kings?

Nope, bitter tie.

The two clubs finished in a 5-5 deadlock before a sellout crowd of 16,005.

The Kings are 20-21-12. Hartford is 15-26-9, including a club-record winless streak that now stands at 0-8-5.

The Whalers entered play Thursday with only 151 goals for the season, but the Kings needed Tony Granato’s 25th goal with 4:15 to play to get the tie.

Robitaille’s big four, tying the team record:

--With only 26 seconds remaining in the opening period and the Kings enjoying a two-man advantage, Robitaille, in the right circle, one-timed a pass from Wayne Gretzky over goalie Kay Whitmore’s glove.

--Thirty-four seconds into the second period, with a one-man advantage for the Kings, Robitaille took a pass from Gretzky in the left circle and smashed the puck into the net just inside the right post.

--At the 18:19 mark of that period, the Kings were awarded a penalty shot when Hartford’s Steve Konroyd was whistled for closing his hand on the puck in his crease. Coach Tom Webster went to the hot man, and Robitaille didn’t disappoint. He skated in on Whitmore’s glove side and backhanded the puck past the diving goalie for the eighth hat trick and second penalty shot in three tries during his career.

--At 2:28 of the third period, Robitaille skated in from the left side to deflect Jari Kurri’s pass. Goalie, shooter and puck all met at the left post, with Robitaille able to flip the puck over the helpless Whitmore for his team-high 28th goal.

“I was nervous,” Robitaille said of his penalty shot. “I knew it was the end of the period and the ice would be rough. I did not go too fast because I did not want the puck to go over my stick.”

Robitaille usually wouldn’t think about what move to make until he reached the goalie, but not this time.

“With the ice the way it was,” he said, “I didn’t want to wait to make a decision until I got there.”

Robitaille’s fourth goal tied the score at 4-4. Hartford’s goals had come from John Cullen (his 18th), Geoff Sanderson (10th, the puck going in off King Peter Ahola’s skate) and Mikael Andersson (12th and 13th).

Pat Verbeek’s 14th goal, on a power play, temporarily gave the Whalers a 5-4 lead in the third period. That broke a string of 28 consecutive penalties killed by the Kings over nine games.

It was a big night for Robitaille, but, as he said, “It wasn’t enough.”

King Notes

The successful penalty shot was the eighth in King history in 18 attempts, the last successful one by Tomas Sandstrom in February of 1990. . . . Wing Dave Taylor received eight stitches for a deep cut on a finger on his left hand. He suffered the injury in the first period but was able to return to the ice. . . . Tip-a-King, the club’s annual autograph and auction event, raised a record $260,000 last Sunday. That topped last year’s total of $257,000. The money goes to the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles, an organization for abused children.