Kings Are Tough on Oilers, 3-1 : Hockey: McSorley gets five-minute major and game misconduct, but scores in third period to help L.A. beat Edmonton.

Just the other day, the Kings’ Marty McSorley was lamenting that none of the other so-called tough guys in the league are willing to fight him anymore.

He almost sounded sad.

McSorley felt like his part of his responsibility was being taken away. Coincidentally or not, McSorley hasn’t stopped fighting since he spoke last week about this unsettling new trend in the NHL.

In the Kings’ 3-1 victory Wednesday night over the Edmonton Oilers, it was almost a typical game for McSorley. Within the first five seconds, he squared off against Oiler enforcer Louie DeBrusk at Northlands Coliseum before 13,636. Later in the first period, he took part in a minor scrap against Luke Richardson.

At the end, he received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing Martin Gelinas with two seconds remaining. It is McSorley’s second stick-related major penalty this season and it could earn him a one-game suspension.

Between these activities, McSorley scored his seventh goal of the season with a blistering slap shot from the top of the right circle to put the Kings ahead, 3-1, at 8:03 of the third. It was the second of two, third-period goals by the Kings, who are 15-6-2, and lead second-place Calgary by four points in the Smythe Division.

Earlier, center Corey Millen scored his ninth of the season and defenseman Alexei Zhitnik his second to give the Kings a 2-1 lead after Edmonton opened the scoring early in the second period.

Even DeBrusk, grudgingly, saw something he admired in McSorley.

“You look at each other and you know it’s time (to fight),” DeBrusk said. “As much as I hate to say it, he played a very good game.”

King Coach Barry Melrose couldn’t praise McSorley enough afterward, even though he reserved comment on the spearing incident.

“I want to see that before I comment on it,” he said. “The last four games, he’s fought the toughest guy on each team. He’s shown a lot of courage. Marty has to do it for us. Our big men have to lead the way and Marty’s been fantastic. . . . People love him in L.A. Those are the people that matter--16,005 like him and I love him, so that’s 16,006.”

McSorley, for his part, claimed he was perplexed by referee Andy VanHellemond’s call on the Gelinas incident.

“I’m out there playing and I catch a stick in the eye,” said McSorley, who had a cut over his right eye. “If I speared Martin Gelinas, how is he able to drop his gloves and jump me?”

Said Gelinas: “It happened so fast I didn’t even see it. I thought he played a good game and he scored a goal. You can’t let him skate around. You have to step in and let him know you’re there.”

The McSorley incidents almost overshadowed the significance of the victory for the Kings. They are without Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom, Dave Taylor, Jim Hiller and Lonnie Loach--and still managed to win.

It was their first road victory in four games.

“Chicago was a big win, but this was a big win, too,” Melrose said. “Teams were wondering whether our wheels would fall off without Sandstrom. This is a good confidence builder for our younger players.”

King Notes

Unless NHL President Gil Stein has a major change in his philosophy concerning discipline, Toronto center Doug Gilmour will not miss any games for slashing the Kings’ Tomas Sandstrom, who is sidelined for at least four weeks because of a broken left forearm. On Wednesday, Stein said he would not suspend Gilmour for any games no matter what happens at Friday morning’s hearing at 9:30 in New York. “In a nutshell, in a first incident of supplementary discipline, if a player is suspended it will be for non-game days,” Stein said. “I’m not going to get into game suspensions for a first-time offender. . . . I feel I have to give this system a chance.”

Right wing Jim Hiller (strained lower back) won’t be joining the Kings on this trip after all. The plan was to have him join the team in Detroit for Friday’s game, but Coach Barry Melrose decided to have Hiller rest his back for the next week. Hiller has two bulging disks and has been bothered for the last couple of weeks but continued to play.