Kings Play With Power and Win

Surrounded by happy teammates, autograph-seeking admirers and the media in the Kings’ dressing room Monday afternoon, Luc Robitaille could only shake his head in wonder.

“Two months ago,” he said, “we were bums.”

Two months ago? How about two weeks ago?

The team was still worried about making the playoffs at that point, the coach was worried about losing his job and Wayne Gretzky was worried enough about his own game to hint at early retirement.

Ancient history.

Before a sellout crowd of 16,005 Monday in the annual weekday matinee hockey game at the Forum, the Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 6-3, to take over second place in the Smythe Division.

Bums no longer, these paupers have turned into princes and are threatening to become the kings of the division.

The victory, coupled with a tie by the front-running Vancouver Canucks, leaves the Kings eight points from first place.

“The whole time,” Gretzky said, “we never thought Vancouver was out of sight.”

What has turned the Kings from a struggling team into one that is 4-1-2 over its last seven games to improve to 24-22-13?

Robitaille has to be considered a key. He celebrated his 26th birthday Monday with two more goals Monday to give him a team-high 35, 12 in his last eight games. He added another power play goal Monday, giving him 10 in his last 13 games.

Robitaille has always been a streak shooter, but not to this degree.

The difference, he said, between being hot and cold is about an inch. That’s how much he’s shortened his sticks.

“Now I’m seeing the puck better,” he explained. “It’s made a big difference. Before I would have to lean over more to shoot. Now, I can stand up straight. That gives me a lot more control of the puck.”

Sort of like a hitter choking up more on the bat.

“It also gives me time to look up quickly,” he said, “and see where the goalie is.”

Robitaille’s offensive clout has been a big boost, but there have been others.

For much of the season, the Kings’ power play was among the worst in the league. They desperately missed the contributions from the point of Steve Duchesne, who had been traded in the offseason.

But now, the other defenseman are responding and becoming more aggressive offensively.

“They are taking more shots,” said Gretzky, who scored his 23rd and 24th goals Monday, one on a power play, the other into an empty net. “They are coming late. With Duchesne gone, we need everyone else to be the fourth guy. We cannot rely on one. Now Charlie Huddy, Rob Blake and Marty (McSorley) are utilizing more of their abilities.”

The result: Three King power-play goals in four attempts Monday and five in seven tries over two games. The Kings have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last nine games and in 12 of 13.

Blake scored his sixth goal of the season Monday on a power play. The other King goal was scored by Brian Benning, his second.

The other element in the resurgence is goalie Kelly Hrudey, who again made key save after key save in his 16th consecutive start.

Boston’s goals were scored by Vladimir Ruzicka (his team-high 35th), Andy Brickley (ninth) and Dave Reid (sixth).

In losing their third in a row on the road, Boston dropped to 27-23-8.

After rearranging some dressing-room furniture, Boston’s furious coach, Rick Bowness, threatened to rearrange his roster.

“The problem is,” he said, “10 guys are playing and 10 guys are not playing. You can’t win on the road with 10 guys playing. So when the Olympics are over, we’ll go sign those kids and they’ll have jobs. And these guys will have no one to blame but themselves because we’re not going to put up with that crap.”

Heroes to bums. Bums to heroes. Such is life in the NHL.