Kings’ Loss Draws Vachon’s Ire : Hockey: He criticizes their play after they fall behind, 6-1, and end up losing, 6-4, to Jets.

King General Manager Rogie Vachon didn’t wait until the final buzzer had sounded on his team’s 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Friday night.

He started ripping them at the end of the second period.

He had seen enough by then. More than enough.

He’d seen missed scoring opportunities, bungled defense, inept penalty-killing and mental lapses.

He’d fumed as his team fell behind 6-1 en route to its sixth loss in eight games, allowing the third-place Edmonton Oilers to move to within two points of the Kings in the battle for second place in the Smythe Division, meaning home-ice advantage in the opening playoff round.

He’d heard all the excuses about the final regular-season games being meaningless and the impending players’ strike being a distraction.

And he wasn’t buying any of it.

“You talk to some players,” Vachon said in the press box after 40 frustrating minutes, “and they say this team is in the middle of nowhere right now (with only three games left in the regular season).

“That’s not so. Finishing second is important financially and, if the first playoff series was to come down to a seventh game, we’d have a much better chance at home than in Edmonton.”

The loss drops the Kings to 34-30-13, good for 81 points. By beating Minnesota Friday night, Edmonton is 35-32-9 for 79 points. The teams meet Sunday in what could be the final regular-season game for both should the strike start Monday.

“Edmonton wasn’t even close a couple of weeks ago,” Vachon said. “We should have buried them. Now, we’ve made a game of it.

“It’s embarrassing. I won’t use any excuses. We can’t play like this, undisciplined, out of control. We’re awful, just awful.”

The Jets have an opponent of their own to shake. The win improved them to 29-32-15, giving Winnipeg a six-point lead over the Calgary Flames in the struggle for the final Smythe playoff spot.

The Jets took a big lead early Friday before a sellout Winnipeg Arena crowd of 15,568. King goalie Steve Weeks, giving Kelly Hrudey a rare rest, gave up goals to Darrin Shannon (13th), Thomas Steen (12th) and Luciano Borsato (14th) and the Jets led, 3-0, early in the second period.

After Luc Robitaille scored his team-high 42nd goal for the Kings, the Jets reeled off three more goals in 3:29 to put the game out of reach. Keith Tkachuk (second), Phil Sykes (fourth) and Troy Murray (15th) enabled Winnipeg to extend its unbeaten streak to four (2-0-2).

Murray’s goal was particularly embarrassing for the Kings. Weeks, mistakenly thinking a penalty had been called, started skating off the ice, creating confusion that resulted in a bench minor. Murray’s subsequent goal gave the Jets their third successful power-play in four tries Friday.

“To come into a game like this, knowing what we’re up against, and to go down 6-1 is disheartening. I know you’re tired of asking about what’s wrong,” the Kings’ Wayne Gretzky told reporters. “I’m tired of answering it. I don’t know what the problem is. I can’t answer it anymore.”

Mike Donnelly’s 28th goal and two by Jari Kurri (22nd and 23rd) made the score respectable Friday.

What Vachon hopes, however, is that his team finds a way to become respectable.

By Sunday.

King Notes

In the dressing room after Thursday’s 7-2 loss to the Calgary Flames, a Calgary reporter asked King goalie Kelly Hrudey if he was just “play-acting” when he lay motionless on the ice in the first period after getting decked by the Flames’ Ronnie Stern. Understandably upset at such a questionable question, Hrudey stormed out of the dressing room after leaving the dumbfounded reporter with a few choice expletives. “Why don’t they have fines for reporters as well as players?” Hrudey later asked. . . . The NHL Players Assn. has given each of its 22 player representatives credit cards to ensure that if there is a strike any players stranded can purchase airline tickets home.