A Little Coffey Wakes Up Kings : Stanley Cup playoffs: He scores twice in 1:50 of the third period as Kings get even with the Oilers, 4-3.

By STEVE SPRINGER

April 25, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

EDMONTON, Canada —

Wayne Gretzky looked up at the Northlands Coliseum scoreboard Friday night, concern etched into his face.

The game clock was running.

But the shot clock wouldn’t budge.

Trailing the Edmonton Oilers by a goal in the fourth game of their best-of-seven Smythe Division semifinal series, the Kings had nine minutes to salvage their season.

On the Kings’ bench, Gretzky leaned over to teammate Jay Miller and said: “We don’t have a shot in this period.”

Gretzky spoke too soon.

By the time the words were out of his mouth, the puck was in the Oiler net, put there on a blistering shot by Paul Coffey from the top of the left circle.

Coffey ignited the Kings’ offense with two of three goals that came in the space of 2:41, giving the team a 4-3 victory in Game 4.

The series is tied, with Game 5 to be played Sunday night at the Forum.

It now becomes a best-of-three series with two of the three games at the Forum.

The evening began ominously for the Kings, the Oilers’ Scott Mellanby scoring on a power play in the first period.

It was Edmonton’s ninth power play in this series in 19 tries.

The capacity crowd of 17,503 started celebrating, but Luc Robitaille calmed them down with his first of two goals, this one coming on a power play.

Dave Manson’s second-period goal moved the Oilers into a 2-1 lead and that’s the way it stayed until Coffey struck.

He got the puck out of a faceoff won by Tony Granato. Granato shoveled the puck to Coffey, who rifled it through goalie Bill Ranford’s pads to tie the score, 2-2.

Coffey’s goal came with 8:48 remaining in the period.

He had no idea his team had been blanked up to that point in the period in the shot department.

“There’s too much going on out there,” he said. “The last thing I’m going to worry about is the shot clock.

“I ripped the shot. I really got into that one.”

Less than two minutes later, Coffey ripped another one to put the Kings in front, 3-2.

Operating on a power play, Coffey took a pass from Gretzky in the slot and fired a 55-foot shot over Ranford’s stick with 6:58 to play.

Robitaille then followed with what proved to be the winner, giving the Kings a 4-2 lead.

Vincent Damphousse scored the final goal at the 16:13 mark, but the Oilers could get no closer.

“It was huge,” Coffey said of the victory. “We’ll never know, but, if we drop that game, we’re in deep trouble.”

But Coffey insisted he wasn’t concerned early in the third period.

“We only needed one puck in there,” he said, “to get back in it.”

And he provided it.

Granato, however, acknowledged there was a little different mind-set going into the last period.

“We tried to play a little more desperate,” he said. “But we didn’t panic. We didn’t want to get burned.”

There were many positive signs for the Kings Friday night. They held the Oilers to one power play in five tries. They held Edmonton to 23 shots after giving up 81 in the last two games.

And the Kings got some power in their own power play with two goals in six tries.

“We played with a great deal of heart,” Gretzky said. “In the third period, we tried to challenge their speed with our speed. They’re a pretty quick team, but they have to realize we can be quick, too.”

When it was over, Gretzky could look at the scoreboard.

With no concern at all.

King Notes

Luc Robitaille’s goal Friday was his 24th career playoff goal, breaking a tie with Dave Taylor for the top spot on the Kings’ all-time list. Wayne Gretzky is fifth on that list. He has scored 12 of his 93 playoff goals as a King. . . . If the swelling has gone down by this afternoon, Jari Kurri will test his sprained ankle in practice. No determination on his availability will be made until then. Kurri hurt the ankle in the second period of Game 3. . . . Defenseman Larry Robinson, sidelined since Game 2 because of an ankle bruise, is listed as possible for Game 5 Sunday. . . . For the Oilers, three injured players--wings Craig Simpson and Anatoli Semenov and defenseman Kevin Lowe--might all return if the series goes long enough. Lowe, sidelined because of a groin pull, could be back by Game 5, although Game 6 is more likely. Semenov (shoulder injury) could also be back by Game 6. The series would have to go seven games for Simpson (shoulder injury) to attempt a return.

Series at a Glance

KINGS VS. EDMONTON OILERS

RESULTS Game 1: Edmonton 3, Kings 1

Game 2: Kings 8, Edmonton 5

Game 3: Edmonton 4, Kings 3

Game 4: Kings 4, Edmonton 3

SCHEDULE Sunday: at Forum, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday: at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday: at Forum, 7:30 p.m.*

* If necessary

All times Pacific

Stanley Cup Playoffs