With Head Start, Kings Lose : Hockey: On Robinson’s night, they take a 2-0 lead before Canadiens take 5-2 victory. Defenseman Blake injures right shoulder.

Before Saturday night’s game between the Kings and the Canadiens, the Montreal Forum crowd said goodby to retiring defenseman Larry Robinson in a tear-filled ceremony.

But during the game, a 5-2 Montreal victory, the Kings may have said goodby to defenseman Rob Blake for the season.

Diving to try to stop a Canadien shot in the second period, Blake severely sprained his right shoulder, which popped out when he hit the ice. Earlier in the season, he missed 11 games because of the same injury.

“He could be gone for the year,” Coach Tom Webster said. “He’s really been playing well. He is a stay-at-home defenseman--solid, using his body, taking care of his own end. He is going to be missed, big time.”

Neither trainer Pete Demers nor Blake were willing to concede the 22-year-old defenseman is gone for the season until he is examined further back home.

“I’m not going to rush into surgery,” Blake said. “I’m going to see if I can come back.”

That’s something the Kings proved unable to do Saturday night before a crowd of 17,959, largest of the season at the Montreal Forum.

The Kings took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Corey Millen (his 16th) and Luc Robitaille (his team-leading 41st, and his 24th power-play goal to set a team record).

But they weren’t heard from again. Montreal scored five consecutive goals to boost their Adams Division-leading record to 41-23-8.

Kirk Muller began the onslaught against goalie Kelly Hrudey with his team-high 35th goal, 1:51 into the second period. Patrice Brisebois (second goal) and Russ Courtnall (fifth) scored 22 seconds apart, giving Montreal three goals in the first two minutes 48 seconds of the period.

Mike McPhee added his 15th goal in the third period, and Courtnall closed out the scoring with his second of the night, short-handed and into an empty net in the closing seconds.

The loss, the Kings’ second in a row after eight consecutive victories, dropped them to 32-26-13. Coupled with a Vancouver victory Saturday, the loss left the Kings 11 points behind the Smythe Division leaders with nine games to play.

The loss threw a damper on Robinson’s night. At 40, he is planning on retiring at the end of this season, his 20th in the league and third with the Kings after 17 seasons as a Canadien.

Knowing he would be asked to address the crowd, Robinson spent a nervous afternoon rehearsing the speech he would give in English and French.

“Normally I would lay down and get a couple of hours sleep before a game,” he said. “But I had too many butterflies in my stomach. This was like my first game instead of my last.”

Robinson was presented a painting of himself in a Canadien uniform before taking the microphone to a standing ovation in what figures to be his last appearance here, barring a meeting between the two clubs in the Stanley Cup finals.

Robinson broke down while thanking his family and fans.

“It was the scariest feeling I ever had,” he said. “Deep down, I’m kind of a sentimental old fool.”

King Notes

NHL Players Assn. executive director Bob Goodenow briefed the Kings on talks aimed at averting a possible strike. Goodenow met with the team Saturday 24 hours after owner Bruce McNall had given management’s side of the stalemate to his players. . . . Also honored before Saturday’s game, along with Larry Robinson, was referee Denis Morel, who was working his 1,000 game, only the eighth official in league history to do so.