Kings Show Oilers the Way They Were : NHL playoffs: Five former Edmonton players lead L.A. to 8-5 victory in Game 2. The best-of seven series is even at 1-1.

It was Oiler night at the Forum.

No, not those Oilers. Not the guys who put Edmonton in the playoffs. It was the guys who put Edmonton on the map.

Needing a victory to even their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series at 1-1, the Kings used all their Oiler transplants to blow out Edmonton Monday night before a sellout Forum crowd of 16,005.

The final score: Edmonton South 8, Edmonton North 5.

Game 3 will be played Wednesday night in Edmonton.

Coach Tom Webster used his entire stockpile of former Oilers to get his team back in this series after a miserable performance by the Kings in a Game 1 loss.

On this night, the Oilers of the ‘80s proved superior to the Oilers of the ‘90s.

Paul Coffey had two goals and two assists, Wayne Gretzky four assists, Jari Kurri a goal and two assists, Marty McSorley a goal and an assist and Charlie Huddy a goal and an assist.

Coach Tom Webster referred to them as “The Fab Five.”

Said Webster: “They were instrumental in getting us going, Paul Coffey on the power play, Wayne Gretzky fighting through checks and Jari Kurri scoring a big goal for us. They have a great deal of pride. They’ve been through it before.”

Webster was particularly happy with his team’s power-play unit, which produced three goals in eight attempts.

The Kings didn’t wait long to put the power back in that much-maligned power play.

They were zero for nine in that category in Game 1, making it 20 consecutive power plays without a goal in a streak that stretched back to the last two games of the regular season.

But only 19 seconds into Game 2 Monday night, the Kings found themselves again with a man advantage when Vincent Damphousse was called for interference on Tony Granato.

Twenty-seven seconds later, Coffey converted on the Kings’ first shot of the game, scoring from close in on the left side off a pass from Gretzky, who was camped in his familiar spot behind the net.

The Oilers went ahead, 2-1, on goals by Bernie Nicholls and David Maley. Nicholls was able to score from just off the left post when he went unchecked. Maley took the bouncing puck off the end boards and skated in unchecked to score.

But before the first period had ended, the Kings regained the lead.

With Edmonton goalie Bill Ranford sprawled on the ice, Granato scored into the open left side of the net off Luc Robitaille’s pass from the crease.

After the red light went on, Granato was cross-checked from behind by Oiler defenseman Craig Hawgood, sending Granato crashing into the boards and leaving him stunned, a cut over his right eye.

Hawgood received a major penalty and a game misconduct.

Coffey used the opportunity to score his second power-play goal of the night, blasting the puck by Ranford from 50 feet out.

Edmonton took back the lead in the second period on Nicholls’ second power-play goal and Joe Murphy’s deflection into the net of a Damphousse shot.

But it didn’t last.

The Kings came back before the end of the period with three unanswered goals, from Marty McSorley, Rob Blake and Charlie Huddy, to move to a 6-4 lead.

Kurri and Mike Donnelly added goals in the final period before Martin Gelinas finally broke the Kings’ run with Edmonton’s fifth goal.

“I’ve had a rough year,” Kurri said. “I’m fairly pleased to get any goals. This time of year, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or who you played for. You just go out and do your job.”

Gretzky, a calming influence after the Game 1 debacle, was no different after Game 2.

“After Game 1, we talked about how it was going to be a long series,” he said, “and that we could not panic after one game. We had to stay calm. We’re saying the same thing now after one win.

“We have to match their intensity with our intensity. We were saying after Game 1 that you can’t count us out,” he said looking around the Kings’ dressing room. “There is a lot of heart in here.”

King Notes

Jari Kurri’s goal was his 93rd career playoff goal, tying him with teammate Wayne Gretzky for the top spot on the NHL’s all-time list. . . . King defenseman Larry Robinson left the game in the second period after getting hit in the ankle with a puck. It was later diagnosed as a bruise. . . . Although the 10-day strike messed up the NHL’s playoff schedule, there are no conflicting dates at the Forum should both the Kings and the Lakers advance all the way to their respective finals.

Saturday was the 16th time the Kings have lost the first game of a playoff series. They wound up losing 13 of the previous 15. . . . One of the two times they rallied to win was in last season’s opening playoff series. The Kings blew a three-goal lead in Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks, losing, 6-5, but came back to win the series in six games.

Edmonton wings Craig Simpson and Anatoli Semenov are both out with shoulder injuries suffered in Game 1. Neither has yet been given a return date. . . . Also hurting is Oiler center Mark Lamb. Lamb is skating with a sore foot, the result of getting hit by a Charlie Huddy shot. . . . The Kings had lost six of the previous nine postseason games played against Edmonton at the Forum.

HOT COFFEY: Former Oiler star has his biggest night for Kings. C7.