Victory Has Sting for Kings : Hockey: Sandstrom suffers a broken arm as they beat the Maple Leafs, 6-4, for 10th consecutive victory at the Forum.

Long after the Kings’ dressing room had cleared out, Tomas Sandstrom sat on a bench, cradling his left arm.

He hadn’t planned on wearing a cast. Despite the Kings’ 6-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs before 16,005 at the Forum on Saturday, the game was a costly one. Sandstrom suffered a broken arm when he was slashed during the second period by Toronto center Doug Gilmour. The right wing will be sidelined for four to six weeks while he is recovering from a broken forearm.

“I didn’t even see him (Gilmour) coming,” Sandstrom said. “I just felt the slash, and that was it.”

The Kings plan on sending a tape of the incident to the league. Gilmour was assessed a two-minute penalty for high-sticking.

“High sticking?” an incredulous King captain Luc Robitaille said. “Why did they call it that? It’s a joke.”

Said King Coach Barry Melrose: “We’ve lost a great player for a long time. . . . We hope he heals really fast--like two days.”

The Kings said that the incident was in direct retaliation for a play involving Jamie Macoun during the second period. Sandstrom beat Macoun to the puck behind the Toronto net and Macoun went heavily into the boards. Mike Donnelly scored on Sandstrom’s centering pass at 12:36. Macoun was shook up for a couple of minutes but apparently was uninjured.

Gilmour went after Sandstrom about 30 seconds later.

“It was too bad, it was a stupid thing by him (Gilmour) to do,” Sandstrom said. “I didn’t even hit that one guy (Macoun). He stopped, and I just kept going for the puck.”

Sandstrom has 12 goals and 31 points, blending well on the Kings’ top line with Robitaille and Jari Kurri.

“To be honest, that’s not going to help us,” Sandstrom said, regarding any league action against Gilmour. “Really, the guy who is hurt is me and Kings.”

Sandstrom wasn’t the only injured King. Defenseman Darryl Sydor suffered a shoulder injury late in the third period was hospitalized for tests.

For the Kings (14-6-2), it was their 10th consecutive victory at home, tying the team record set during the 1990-91 season. Detroit has been the only team to beat the Kings at the Forum, and that was in the home opener on Oct. 8. Combined with Calgary’s loss to the New York Islanders, the Kings took sole possession of first place in the Smythe Division.

The Kings led by 4-0 near the midpoint of the second period, but the Maple Leafs never gave up.

Toronto scored twice before Kurri put the Kings ahead by three with a low hard shot from above the right circle at 4:27. Kurri, who had been the late man in the zone, beat Potvin between the pads.

It was only the fourth shot Potvin had faced. He replaced Fuhr for the third period when Fuhr’s left knee started acting up in between periods. Fuhr was examined by a doctor and the Maple Leafs chose to keep him out as a precautionary measure.

Toronto was forced to summon goaltender Rick Wamsley from the press box. Wamsley, who was doing color commentary on the Maple Leafs radio broadcast, quickly changed into his uniform to be the backup on the bench.

Kurri was the only King to score against Potvin, who came into the game with the best goals against average (2.31) in the NHL. The Kings’ scoring opportunities were limited because they were forced to hang on under Toronto’s increased offensive tempo.

The Maple Leafs pulled within 5-4 on back-to-back power-play goals, but the Kings held off the Maple Leafs during numerous flurries the final seven minutes.