Kings Get Wake-Up Call From Rychel : Hockey: His fighting penalty precedes two quick goals that give L.A. the lead for good in a 4-3 victory over the Islanders.

Warren Rychel, the Kings’ left winger, didn’t spend his time playing hockey in Peoria, Saginaw and Indianapolis without becoming a realist.

He realized someone had to atone for the Kings’ sleep-skating in the second period and his own sub-par play. Rychel skated out for the opening shift of the third, spotted the imposing figure of Mick Vukota, the Islanders’ top enforcer, and prepared to go to work only five seconds into the period.

Going to work meant taking a few punches. He gave, he received and, better yet, he didn’t get taken down by one of the NHL’s better fighters.

Thirty-six seconds after Rychel and Vukota entered the penalty box with five-minute fighting majors, the Kings scored two quick goals by Pat Conacher and Corey Millen to take the lead for good and quickly added another by Bob Kudelski, proceeding to beat the Islanders, 4-3, on Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum before 10,259.

It gave the Kings (6-3-1) their first victory on this six-game, 12-day trip. They had been winless after the first three games, going 0-2-1. The Islanders (5-4-1) had been playing well of late, winning five of their last seven before Tuesday night’s game.

So King Coach Barry Melrose made lineup adjustments. Rookie center Robert Lang did not play for the first time all season and Kudelski was inserted in the lineup.

Afterward, however, everyone was talking about Rychel in the Kings’ dressing room.

“He jumped-started us,” said a giddy Bruce McNall, the Kings’ owner. “He’s the battery.”

Melrose has been Rychel’s biggest backer since the first day of training camp, urging upper management to take a chance and sign him as a free agent. Melrose has made sure Rychel skates a regular shift, and he has killed penalties, too.

In Melrose’s mind, there was little question how the game turned around in the third.

“The fight--without a doubt,” he said. “Rychel goes out and fights one of the toughest guys in the league and the bench is picked up right there. That’s what winning is all about--guys doing things with courage. When you fight a guy like Vukota, you know the results aren’t going to be great. But that’s what courage is all about. Warren did that for the team.”

Melrose was asked by a reporter whether the plot was hatched between periods in the dressing room. He bristled at the suggestion.

“No, it wasn’t pre-planned,” he said. “It was Warren Rychel doing something for the team. That’s the difference between winning and losing.”

Said Rychel: “We had a terrible second period, especially with a 1-0 lead going into the second. Myself, also. I thought, ‘Let’s give the boys a lift to give us some momentum in the third.’ And it paid off.

“He’s a big guy. But you’ve got to do your job. I’m as big and strong as anybody,” said Rychel, who also scored the game’s first goal, converting a Tony Granato rebound.

King forward-defenseman Marty McSorley, who has a long history when it comes to fighting, was on the ice when Rychel took on Vukota. McSorley immediately skated over to the Kings’ bench to talk to his teammates.

“I went back to bench, making sure everyone knew that this guy was putting his butt on the line, and said, ‘Let’s go. He did a great job,’ ” McSorley said.

The reaction was almost immediate. Conacher beat former King goaltender Glenn Healy with a backhander from 20 feet out in the left circle at 29 seconds into the period to tie the score, 2-2.

Twelve seconds later, Millen followed with a goal that followed a fluke play when Islander defenseman Vladimir Malakhov lost his stick behind the net when he caught it in the boards.

Tomas Sandstrom pounced on the loose puck and tried to beat Healy with the wraparound. Millen got the rebound in the crease to make it 3-2.

At 3:04, Kudelski’s one-timer from the edge of the right circle put the Kings ahead, 4-2. It was his first of the season.

The Islanders pulled within one goal at 5:11 and had every chance to send the game into overtime when King center John McIntyre received a five-minute major for elbowing Brian Mullen at 15:37.

But the Kings killed the penalty and earned the first victory of their longest trip of the season.